Wooden Cane Pirates
by Speedlion
Summary: Your same old "new crew trying to become the third Pirate King"... we'll see where this ends. Might accept OCs as secondary characters. T to be safe, though it's probably a lower rating... that's all... enjoy the story...
1. Set Sail!

**Set Sail!**

"You guys ready?"

Colphor looked over his shoulder where his eyes met two persons, looking pretty much identical to each other.

"Of course!" both answered at the very same time. Both had backpacks on their backs, like Colphor himself had too.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Colphor smiled, "let's take that ship!"

The two behind Colphor smiled as the three of them leapt around the corner, onto the docks. There were several ships docked, cradling softly on the purling water below the ships. Their target was a small, seemingly abandoned ship. No-one paid attention to the kids who were not older than thirteen. Everyone from Hyrule Town knew them though. They were delinquents in the eyes of most people, especially that Colphor. Whenever he was around, something was bound to happen. And not particularly something good. The two with him were the Gorman Twins, Bartho and Tybo. Colphor's deep purple hair waved softly through the wind. The three walked right towards their target.

"It looks empty. Do you really think we have the right one?" one of the twins asked.

"Don't be stupid! When Colphor says it's this ship, it is this ship. What kind of pirate are you, doubting your captain like that?" the other twin scolded the first.

"Now, now. Don't be rude," Colphor said, looking at the small ship in awe, "rather than talking, let's get onboard and set sail. The fact that the ship is abandoned only works in our favor."

Colphor walked towards the plank that connected the ship with the docks. It squeaked a little when Colphor walked on it, but it seemed to be able to support him perfectly. The twins followed him in pursuit. A breeze blew in their backs, making it almost as if the wind itself was telling them to start this adventure.

"Looks like this is a great ship!" Colphor yelled out to no-one in particular.

"How can you tell?" one of the twins asked.

"If the captain says so, it is the complete truth!" the other twin scolded the first again.

Colphor ignored their short quarrel and walked on from the back to the middle of the ship.

"Hey, Colphor! Where ya going?" Bartho, the first one of the twins asked.

"To uhm… I dunno… how do you call the middle of a ship?"

That question apparently startled all three of them. After a whole 3 seconds of thinking, Colphor gave up and shrugged.

"Who cares. From now on, this is the middle deck," Colphor decided.

"Okay!" Bartho and Tybo simultaneously answered.

"And the front is the Front Deck. And the back is the Back Deck… or the Behind Deck…"

Once again, the three started thinking again. Colphor shrugged once more.

"Who cares! Let's check the inside!"

"Captain? Captain, is that you? The girl is crying! Could you help me? I don't know what to do?" a voice sounded from inside the ship. A door from a room probably underneath the "Front Deck" opened and a small boy around the same age as the other three came out. As soon as he saw the three unknown faces, he got in a fighting position, fists placed in between his and Colphor's body.

"Hello there," Colphor friendly greeted, "we're taking this ship. Do you want to get off or go with us?"

The boy was dumbstruck by the announcement and question. He blinked a few times before his jaw fell flat on the floor.

"You're stealing the ship!" he yelled unbelievingly.

"Yup," Colphor answered with a happy-go-lucky smile.

"Are you pirates?" the boy asked.

"Yup," Colphor answered with the same smile.

If possible, the boy's jaw smashed through the floor. He was making desperate attempts to say something. Colphor looked at the boy, found the problem and walked over to him.

"Here, I'll lend you a hand," Colphor said, while he grabbed the boy's jaw and pulled it all the way up until it was back in its normal position. He looked at the small hole the jaw had made in the deck.

"Don't do that another time. You're destroying my ship."

The boy suddenly screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! PIRATES! They're going to kill me! Heeeeelp!"

He ran back into the room, which was actually just a hallway with stairs leading down at the end.

"I think he wants to go with us," Bartho said.

"He seemed like a fun lad," Tybo added to the false assumptions.

Colphor looked into the hallway.

"Hey! Hey, boy! Where are you?" he yelled.

"Go away! I'm not here!" the boy yelled back.

"Liar! I just heard someone talking!" Colphor yelled back.

"That's just your imagination!" the boy screamed.

That had Colphor thinking for a few seconds.

"So… my imagination is down there?"

The boy stayed silent, probably contemplating whether Colphor was joking or just plain stupid.

"How could you even think of something stupid like that!" the boy yelled.

Colphor scratched the back of his head.

"I dunno. It just came to mind. Y'know, how about I come down and check if my imagination is really down there?"

"No, no, no, no! Don't come down!" the boy yelled.

Then, Colphor's ears caught another faint voice:

"Help!"

"Hey! I think I just heard someone calling for help! Are you alright?" Colphor asked.

"Silent, you!" he heard the boy faintly saying.

"Should we go down?" Bartho asked.  
Colphor nodded and walked in the hallway.

"Wait! Don't come!" the boy yelled again.

"Help!" another voice yelled more faintly the boy's.

"Idiot! Don't yell! You're getting the pirates downstairs with that yelling of yours!" the boy informed the other, unknown person.

"I'm coming down! Sorry for intruding!" Colphor politely stated.

"Now, look what you've done!" the boy yelled, almost crying. There was some thumping downstairs and when Colphor had reached the end of the stairs, he saw what had caused the thumping. The boy was now wielding two katanas, each in one hand.

"S-S-S-Stay back! I-I-I'm warning you! I'll cut you to pieces in an instant!" the boy warned while he was shaking from his very core. Furthermore, Colphor could see two other persons in the room he was now standing in. Among the many cannonballs that were being stored here laid two persons, one boy and one girl. Both were tied with a rope and had seastone shackles around their wrists.

"How's it down there?" Tybo asked from upstairs.

"It seems like fun. Tybo! Bartho! You go untie the sails! We need to set sail before those other people are coming back!"

"Okay!" the twins said simultaneously.

"W-W-W-What are you going to do with this ship!" the scared boy asked.

"This ship is going to take me to One Piece and make me the third Pirate King!" Colphor stated.

"The Third… Pirate King?" the boy asked, thinking about the meaning of those words, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! You're going to be the Pirate King?" the boy asked surprised.

"Yup!" Colphor said with the same happy-go-lucky smile he gave the boy earlier, "wanna be part of my crew?"

The boy blinked.

"I'm a marine! Not a pirate!" he yelled.

"A marine?" Colphor said, looking at the boy. Only now did he notice that the cloths the boy was wearing was a marine's uniform.

"Ah, I see… well, too bad then… I guess I'll have to throw you over board then," Colphor said, definitely disappointed.

"Wait! Wait! I'm not a marine! I'm not a marine! I swear!" the boy yelled, realizing that Colphor would really do so if he wouldn't immediately take back his words.

"Are you really sure?" Colphor asked.  
The boy nodded violently.

"I see… so that means you want to join my crew?" Colphor said, jumping to conclusions.

Fearing that he would be thrown overboard, the boy started nodding even more violently.

"Yay!" Colphor yelled in joy. He stretched out his arm for a handshake.

"I'm Menar D. Colphor!"

"M-M-Menardy Colphor?" the boy said, asking for confirmation, all the while accepting the handshake from Colphor, dropping the two katanas in the process.

"Yes, something like that. What's your name?" Colphor asked.

"F-F-Falarda, sir!" the boy answered.

"Oh, you can call me Colphor. Or Captain," Colphor said.

"Yes, Captain!" Falarda answered immediately.

"So, Falarda," Colphor began, "care to explain to me what these two are doing down here?"

Falarda looked at the two other persons in their presence.

"They're prisoners," Falarda explained.

"Hmm…"

Colphor walked over to the boy and the girl.

"Let's make a deal! I'll get you out of those ropes and shackles if you join my crew!" Colphor suggested.

"W-Wait, Captain! You can't do that! They're vicious criminals! They're very dangerous!" Falarda warned.

Colphor looked down at the persons. The girl looked like she was around 8, while the boy was around sixteen years old.

"I'm also dangerous," Colphor countered.

This caused Falarda to fall over.

"That's not the problem here!" Falarda muttered.

Colphor looked at the two kids.

"Well?"

"We'll do what you'll say," the boy answered, "just please untie us!"

"Alright!"

Colphor reached in his pocket and grabbed a small knife with which he cut through the ropes.

"How are you going to get the shackles off?" the boy asked.

"Just look and be in awe!" Colphor said, as he put his finger in front of the keyhole. His finger become brown and seemed to grow into the keyhole. A few seconds later, after slightly twisting his finger, a "click" sounded and the boy was free.

"Thank you!" the boy said, showing his gratitude, "can you free my sister too?" he asked.

"Of course!" Colphor said. He knelt down to free the boy's sister the same way, but didn't notice that behind him, the boy had transformed his right arm in a chain. He swung the chain around for a few seconds before lashing it out at Colphor. The chain caught Colphor's neck and the boy pulled, planning to strangle his "Captain". This, however, didn't seem to affect Colphor at all. Colphor simply proceeded to free the girl, using the same method as he used on the boy. The boy tried to pull harder, but there was no effect.

"_What's wrong? Why isn't this working?"_

Colphor looked back over his shoulder at the boy and said:

"I don't know what kind of funny thing you're doing, but you're obstructing me while I'm trying to free your sister," Colphor said, as if nothing serious was happening.

The boy was taken aback by this.

"Why… why are you not being strangled by my chains?" he asked.

"Oh, that…? I ate the Moku Moku no Mi (Moku is short for Mokuzai, which means "wood"). It has a lot of benefits, I can tell you!"

A "click" sounded, meaning the shackles of the girl were now also off.

"You're also a Devil Fruit user?" the boy asked.

"Oh? So you're one too? Which one?" Colphor asked in return.

"The Chen Chen no Mi," the boy said, absent-minded.

Colphor smiled.

"So, since you're now part of my crew, could you two tell me your names?" Colphor asked.

"Eh… right," the boy said, snapping back into reality, "I'm Petro. Petro Melu. My sister's name is Mina."

"Nice to meet you!" Colphor said joyfully, with a big smile decorating his face, "I'm so happy to have so many nakama already, even though our journey has just begun!"

The girl suddenly began to speak.  
"Onii-san… I sense some people approaching this ship!"

She had barely said that, when Tybo's voice yelled from upstairs:

"Colphor! We got the Marines on our tail! What are we gonna do!"

"I'm coming upstairs right away! I'll bring our new nakama with me!"


	2. First Encounter With The Marines

**Chapter 2: First Encounter With The Marines**

We go a few minutes back in time. A marine was storming through the hallways of Hyrule Town Marine HQ, the marine base on Gamoa Island, situated in, as you have probably guessed already, Hyrule Town.

"_The Conference Room… where is the Conference Room! I need to find it before it's too late. Crap, why did I have to do this! Ah, there it is!"_

The marine halted and without hesitation, threw the door open. It slammed against the wall. The marine stood heavily panting in the opening of the door, leaning on his knees.

"F-Found you, Captain Uhibi. S-Something terrible has happened," the marine said through his panting and coughing. The marine looked into the Conference Room and saw a total of twenty-two eyes directed at him, two of which belonged to aforementioned Captain Uhibi.

"Lieutenant Trungil! What in the name of everything that's unexpected are you doing here!"

"The ship," Trungil couldn't get the words out correctly. He stopped, panted a few more times and started on the sentence again:  
"The ship we brought along… it has disappeared."

Captain Uhibi abruptly stood up from his place with a shocked expression.

"W-What are you saying!" he yelled. He looked at the other people present and said:  
"I'm sorry, but I suddenly have something very urgent to attend to! If you'll excuse me," Captain Uhibi said, while he wanted to move to the door of the room.

"Uhibi," a stern voice said.

Uhibi turned around and faced the person sitting at the end of the table.

"Yes, Commodore Delbin!" Uhibi politely answered to the higher ranked person.

"Remember what I said! We are starting to lose our trust in you! This better not have to do with anything clandestine! I take my job as Marine Commodore very seriously and you should too!"

"Understood, sir! May I make my leave now?" Uhibi asked politely.

"You're dismissed," Delbin said.

* * *

"YOU IDIOT!" Uhibi scolded Trungil as they ran through the hallways of the marine base, "Are you crapping retarded! What did I say about mentioning that boat to others!"

"I'm sorry, Captain! I thought I should make the situation clear from the very beginning! That's what you always say, Captain. When reporting, make it as clear as possible!"

"Don't use my words against me!" Uhibi scolded the Lieutenant.

"More importantly," Captain Uhibi continued, "what do you mean with "disappeared"?"

"Well… exactly what it sounds like, Captain! The ship is not there anymore!"

Just as Lieutenant Trungil had said that, a "purupurupuru"-sound came from the Lieutenant.

The two halted as Lieutenant Trungil lifted his arm, which showed a baby Den Den Mushi strapped around his wrist.

"Lieutenant Trungil here!" Trungil sternly said to the device.

"Chief Petty Officer Madgalena reporting," a woman's voice sounded through the Den Den Mushi, "we discovered the whereabouts of the ship! It is reported that it has sailed out with at least four kids on board! One of our ships has gone in pursuit and is currently in firing range!"

Trungil looked to his side where he saw Uhibi with a furious look on his face.

"C-Captain! Shall we order the ship to fire?" Trungil asked.

Uhibi grabbed the lieutenant's arm and said into the Den Den Mushi:

"Captain Uhibi here! Don't fire at the ship! There's something valuable on that ship! Keep following it!"

"But, sir, the ship is faster than our ship is! We will soon be out of firing range! Wait… a moment, Captain…"

On the other line, a faint voice sounded for a few seconds. Then came Magdalena's voice again.

"Captain Uhibi! It has just reported that the sailors on the ship have just raised a pirate flag! Their captain has been yelling at us for quite some time, stating that his ship will make him the next Pirate King and…"

Those words seemed to unlock something in Uhibi. He had a wicked look and yelled:

"Commence attack! Sink that ship NOW!"

"Yes, Captain! Understood!" Magdalena's voice came from the other side of the line. Soon after, the contact was broken.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! They're gonna shoot at us! They're gonna sink us! HEEEEEEEEEELP! Aaaaaah! They're gonna think I'm a pirate!" Falarda yelled, running blindly on the deck. Colphor was standing at the Behind Deck… the Back Deck… whatever it is… Colphor stood at the back of the ship, waving at the marine ship, continually yelling at the marines. Behind him, Falarda fell on the wooden deck, crying as if his life was over.

"Please, stop the ship! They're gonna sink us! They're gonna think I'm a pirate!" Falarda begged.

"But you are a pirate, right?" Colphor said back to him.

"NO, I AM NOT! I'm a poor marine that's been abducted by pirates! Please at least tie me up so they won't mistake me as your apprentice!" Falarda begged.

"Nope," Colphor answered, "cause you won't be able to swim if they sink the ship… by some miracle."

Falarda stayed silent, realizing that Colphor was right.

"Let me correct you," Petro said, leaning against the railing of the ship, "it'll be a miracle if they don't manage to sink this ship."

"How would you know, chainman," Colphor said.

"That's common sense," Petro said, "and don't call me chainman!"

"Whatever," Colphor said, not caring one bit about the danger right in front of us.

"They're gonna shoot! They're gonna shoot! They're bringing out the cannons! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" Falarda yelled in fear.

"Hey, you're right," Colphor said, noticing how the ships cannons were aiming at their little ship.

A second later, the cannons shot their load at the little ship. The ship shook and creaked as it got five direct hits.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm deeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Falarda yelled. He looked at Colphor who was still standing at the same place. He hadn't stopped waving, even though the ship had taken five direct hits.

"Colphor! WHY ARE YOU STILL WAVING AT THEM! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" Falarda yelled.

"Die? Why?" Colphor asked.

"We've been hit, you dimwit! We're gonna sink to the bottom of the sea!" Falarda screamed.

"Oh, we have been hit? Let me take care of the damage then," Colphor said, stopping with waving, "**Repair Kit**!"

* * *

The crew on the small ship couldn't see it, but the marines had a great view on what was now happening.

"T-the… the ship… it's repairing itself!" one of the marines yelled as he witnessed the ship's wood growing over the hole the cannonballs had caused.

"What's happening!" another one yelled.

"It's a miracle!" yet another one yelled in amazement.

* * *

"We're gonna dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Falarda screamed once more.

"No, we aren't," Colphor said, "I repaired the ship.

That made Petro curious.

"You repaired the ship?" he asked.

"Exactly! That Devil's Fruit I ate gave me control over wood, plants and other growing stuff… I can sense when and where wood and plants are being hurt and repair it, among many other things," Colphor explained.

"You might actually be useful," Petro said, with a smile on his face. He looked up at the main mast, particularly the pirate flag that was now waving in the wind.

"So that's what the stick stands for," Petro said.

Colphor turned around.

"It's not a stick!" he yelled angrily, so hard that even the marines could hear it, "It's a cane! This cane, to be exact."

He grabbed a cane that he had strapped on his back. He looked at it as if it was the most valuable thing on earth.

"This is my greatest treasure! There's nothing more valuable than this cane! Because of this cane, I decided to name our pirate crew the "Wooden Cane Pirates"!" Colphor yelled.

"Are you an idiot!" Falarda scolded, "that name makes us sound like we're old geezers!"

He was silent for a few seconds before he moved his hand in front of his mouth.

"You, I mean," Falarda tried to correct himself, "that makes you sound like you're an old geezer! It's not like I said "us"."

"No need to be shy. You're a full pirate now… you should be proud!" Colphor said with a wide smile on his face.

"That's not something to be proud of!" Falarda yelled back at his captain.

"Hey, kid!" a woman's voice suddenly sounded from the marine ship, "I want to make a deal!"

Colphor turned to look at the woman that was shouting at him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"That doesn't matter now. If you throw the girl and the boy you found tied up in the water, we'll let you go off freely!" the woman yelled over the water.

Petro came out of his relaxed stance and immediately transformed his hands into chains.

"I refuse!" Colphor said after two seconds. There was no hesitation in his voice. The answer surprised both ally and enemy.

"Why are you throwing our only chance at surviving this away, you moron!" Falarda scolded.

The woman started speaking again.

"Those two are vicious criminals. They will kill you if they get the chance! It's safer to get rid of them," she stated.

"Like I care," Colphor answered, "They're my nakama now! Only a coward would put their own life before their nakama!"

"Very well, you've chosen your fate. Fire!" she yelled. At her command, a second load of cannons were shot at the ship. This time, Colphor didn't let the cannonballs come near the ship.

"**Vine Protection**!" he yelled. At his comment, thousands of vines grew out of the ship's hull, effectively grabbing the cannonballs while still in the air.

"**Reflection**!" he then yelled.

At his command, the vines started swinging the cannonballs around, before letting go of them, aiming for the marine ship. The marine ship took several hits.

"And to finish it off, **Surfspike**!"

From the hull of the ship, a wooden sipe started to form. Colphor jumped on the spike and by extending the spike more and more, Colphor surfed over the surface, avoiding the high waves. Just before the spike had reached the ship, it split into at least ten big spikes, which all went underwater, effectively piercing the ship's hull.

"**Retract**!"

The wooden spike retracted and without any problems Colphor came back on his ship.

"A-A-Awesome," Falarda said in awe of what he just saw, "What are you?"

"Didn't I tell you already? I am Menar D. Colphor!"

* * *

"Chief Petty Officer Magdalena! We have severe damage to the hull! We're making water!" one of the marines reported.

"_Drat! We failed! He's a Devil Fruit user, eh?"_

Magdalena turned to the marine that reported and said:

"We're stopping the pursuit here! Repair the ship as fast as you can! Make it our top priority!"

"Immediately, sir!" the marine said, turning around.

"_What a shame… to be taken out so easily… it's truly a shame… we've let our guard down because he was so young. What was his name? Menardy Colphor? The Wooden Cane pirates. I think Captain Uhibi is not going to like this… prepare yourself, kid… that man is gonna make you his top priority. Be prepared for a high bounty!"_

* * *

"Whoo… that was fun," Colphor said as the marine ship was but a small dot in the distance.

"FUN! I thought I was gonna die! Besides that, they didn't even make attempts to save me!" Falarda yelled.

Colphor ignored the scared marine and searched for Bartho and Tybo.

"Hey, Bartho! Tybo! Where are you guys!"

A door underneath the Back Deck, as Colphor had decided to call it, opened and the twins both answered.

"We're here."

"Could you two start cooking on a meal for six persons?"

"We're already ahead of your orders!" Tybo stated.

"We already started," Bartho finished.

"Okay then… have fun!" Colphor said.

He then turned to Petro.

"Where's your sister?" he asked.

"She went back inside as soon as she saw the marine ship. I figure she's now in the cannon storage room."

"Ah, I see… so she's safe. That' good. By the way, do you know which way the next island is?"

Petro shrugged.

"How should I know? I'm not a navigator."

"Ah, I see… so we still need a navigator, a first mate, a doctor, a musician, a sniper and a prince."

"You forgot three things," Petro reminded the captain, "a shipwright, a helmsman and a cabin boy."

"We already have those," Colphor said, "Falarda is the helmsman, I act as the shipwright and you are the cabin boy."

"WHAT! I am the helmsman!" Falarda yelled.

Petro was equally surprised.

"If you're making me a cabin boy I'd rather not join your crew at all," Petro said. He wasn't planning on staying with this idiot in the first place, but he wasn't going to be humiliated by being a cabin boy, doing the dirty, hard work.

"Don't worry," Colphor said, "you won't have to do anything… as cabin boy you can just relax and help me fighting when needed."

"That's not the definition of a cabin boy, mind you," Petro stated.

"Well, I'll change that definition then," Colphor simply said.

Petro shrugged.

"Whatever. If what you described as cabin boy is what my job will be, I'll gladly accept it."

"_For the time being. I can't wait until I leave this idiot behind on his stupid boat. I've had enough of this crew already. Two freaky twins, a coward and a nuthouse as captain… and the rest of the necessary crew is missing… this journey of him is going nowhere."_


	3. The Second Island

**Chapter 3: The Second Island**

"Five million is not nearly enough!" Captain Uhibi yelled, "I want to have a bounty of at least 25 million placed on that kid's head! And on their apprentices, I also want high bounties, you hear that!"

"Listen here, Captain. Sinking a marine ship is not that huge of a crime compared to what most people do when they get a 30 million bounty on their heads. The second Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy only got a bounty that high after defeating three other well-known pirates. They simply stole a ship that had been taken in custody by the marines, tried to sink a small marine warship and freed two prisoners. A five million bounty is already a high bounty, especially considering the age of the culprit."

"I don't care. I want a bounty on all four members of the crew. Menardy Colphor: twenty million. Petro: eighteen million. Mina: ten million. And that traitor Falarda needs a five million bounty. Understood?"

"But, sir…" the marine at the other end of the line tried.

"UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, sir… right away."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line before the contact was broken.

"They took those kids along with them," Uhibi thought out aloud, "those kids were my way to eternal happiness!"

* * *

"Yo, wood-dude," Petro yelled from the crow's nest. Colphor, sitting on the bow of the ship, turned around and looked up. He placed a hand above his eyes to protect his eyes for the intense sunlight that was shining mercilessly on the ship. It had been one day since they had been sailing on the ship.

"What is it, chainguy?" Colphor asked.

"There's a small island at four o'clock," Petro said.

"Four o'clock? What do you mean? It's not four o'clock yet, you dummy," Colphor scolded.

"That's not what I mean, you idiot!" Petro yelled back, "there's an island ahead of us, a bit to your right."

"An island! Why didn't you say so immediately!"

He searched for the island and found it.

"You're right, there's an island right there!" he yelled joyfully.

Petro facepalmed.

"It's official. That guy is hopeless… I'm almost starting to pity him."

Mina, who was sitting on the Front Deck, started giggling a little. Colphor turned around.

"What's wrong?"

"O-oh, nothing," Mina said, "you're funny."

Petro looked down surprised at his sister. He then slightly smiled.

"_Heh, I guess at her age, someone like him is funny," _Petro thought.

"That's the first time someone's ever said that to me."

Colphor smiled.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" a sudden scream came from the back of the ship. Petro, Colphor and Mina looked up.

"Falarda, is that you?" Colphor asked.

It was Falarda indeed. He came running towards Colphor with several pieces of paper in his hands.

"What are those?" Colphor asked when Falarda stood right in front of his captain.

"Bounty posters," Falarda answered, "I just bought them along with a new newspaper."

Petro had a hunch of what had happened and climbed out of the crow's nest. Within seconds, he stood next to Colphor.

"Show them to me."

Falarda handed the whole pile of bounty posters to Petro.

"Only the relevant ones, of course," Petro said matter-of-factly.

"Ah, yes."

Falarda grabbed the first four posters from the pile and handed them over to Petro. Petro's eyes widened as he saw the posters.

"Wooden Cane Colphor: twenty million bellies. Melu Petro: eighteen million bellies. Melu Mina: ten million bellies. And lastly, Dexty Falarda: five million bellies."

It was silent for a few moments. Then came vastly different reactions from the people present.

"I have… a bounty?" Falarda said, feeling dizzy, "my life… my life is ruined. RUINED! COLPHOR! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"

Falarda fell to his knees, depressed.

"My life is at its end. Someone please kill me."

"Twenty million?" Colphor reacted surprised, "That's, like, ten million less than the second Pirate King's first bounty! Am I that dangerous!"

He smiled as he realized that.

"_Eighteen million… twenty million. Even Mina has a bounty of ten million. This is definitely his fault. This is ridiculously high for simply putting a warship out of commission for a few hours!"_ Petro thought.

"I… I have a bounty?" Mina said surprised, slightly scared.

Petro looked at Mina worriedly.

Lunch's ready!" Tybo shouted.

"YAY!" was Colphor's immediate reaction. He jumped down from the Front Deck to the Middle Deck, which was situated slightly lower than the Front and Back Deck.

* * *

After lunch, Petro called Mina with him to the cannon storage.

"Mina, listen, as soon as this ship docks, we're gonna run for it, okay?" Petro said.

A look of disappointment appeared on the girl's face.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because these people are pirates. And pirates are bad people!" Petro said.

"Colphor nii-san isn't a bad person!" Mina stated.

"That's only how it looks like!" Petro said.

That didn't convince the little girl, however.

"Not true! Colphor nii-san is funny!"

"Funny people can also be bad people!" Petro countered.

"Not true!" Mina yelled back.

"No, he's right," a voice coming from the stairs said.

The two turned their heads.

"C-Colphor!" Petro stuttered.

Colphor ignored Petro's stammering and continued speaking.

"Funny people can be bad people," Colphor said.

He reached behind his back and grabbed his cane. He stared at it intently.

"Are you a bad person?" Mina asked.

Colphor looked up from his cane and looked the little girl in her eyes. He smiled.

"That depends on your definition of "bad"," Colphor stated.

"I don't think you're bad," Mina immediately said, "But Petro nii-san does," she softly continued.

Colphor grinned, while he strapped the cane back on his back.

"I can't help that," he said, grinning, "I'll remember you, always."

He turned to Petro.

"It was great to know you. We'll give you a good farewell," Colphor said. He wanted to head back, but someone grabbed his hand, before he could do so.

"W… wait," Petro said.

Colphor turned around.

"I… we have nowhere to go," Petro said, "we've been betrayed time and time again. I just don't know who to trust anymore."

"I can't make you trust me," Colphor said, "I'm just myself. I'm not gonna try my best to win your trust. Trust needs to be genuine!"

It was silent for a moment.

"Look," Colphor said, "I have already decided that I want you in my crew. You'd be a great nakama! You're welcome on the crew. Think about my offer until we arrive at the island."

Petro nodded and let Colphor's hand go.

* * *

Colphor wasn't done yet… there was another person on this ship that was pretty depressed right now.

"Must be dream-shattering," Colphor said.

Falarda, who'd been staring into the ocean from the bow, turned around. His saddened face confirmed Colphor's words.

"Why did you want to become a marine?" Colphor asked. He was holding his cane in his right hand and was slightly leaning on it.

"To prove that I'm not a coward," Falarda answered, "my father was a coward, my grandfather was a coward, my great-grandfather was also one… my brother is one… everyone from my family is a coward… so am I…"

"And that's why you joined to marines to prove that someone from the Dexty family could also do something noteworthy, right?" Colphor guessed.

Falarda was surprised by Colphor's guess. Had he always been that perceptive? He nodded.

"And then I ruined it all and got you a bounty and a reputation as a pirate," Colphor went on with guessing.

Again, Falarda nodded.

"Well, let me reassure you then," Colphor said with a grin on his face, "I'll give you the chance to prove a Dexty can do something noteworthy too!"

Falarda looked at Colphor. A tear flowed over his cheek.

"You mean it?"

Colphor gave him a big happy-go-lucky grin.

"By the time I'm the next Pirate King, you'll be known all over the world!" he stated, pointing his thumb at his chest to emphasize the meaning of those words, "what do you say? Want to join my crew?"

By then, tears were running down Falarda's face. He nodded once again.

"We'll also take the invitation," Petro said behind him.

An enthusiastic grin appeared on Colphor's face, while he looked over his shoulder.

"Alright, guys! Now everyone has decided to sail under the same pirate flag, we need to celebrate! Bartho, Tybo!"

"Yes, Colphor?" the twins answered simultaneously, sticking their heads out of the kitchen door.

"Bake us a big cake!"

"Right away!" both of them said with big grins on their faces.

* * *

"Whoo! We've docked! Let's go adventuring on Iuda Island!" Colphor yelled enthusiastically, throwing his hands in the air out of excitement. Mina giggled.

"Yo, wood-captain, how about we visit one of those bars?" Petro suggested.

"Are you sure you want to take Mina along?" Falarda asked.

"Of course not," Petro said.

"Of course!" Colphor yelled.

"You take her with you!" Petro said to Falarda.

"EEEEEEEEH?" Falarda said surprised, "Why me?"

"So you won't get lost," Petro answered.

"I don't need an eight year old to watch over me! I'm already twelve years old, y'know!" Falarda yelled.

Petro snorted.

"Yeah, right, twelve years is a lot," he laughed.

"Hey!" Falarda yelled indignantly.  
Petro had turned around and walked away into the town.

"Hey, woodcaptain! Are you gonna stand there forever?" he said, taunting his captain.

"Wait up!" Colphor yelled, while he tried to catch up with his newfound friend.

* * *

"Maybe we could find a navigator here," Colphor hoped, while they were walking through the town.

"One that's crazy enough to join a pirate crew? One that's crazy enough to join YOUR pirate crew?"

"Of course! There has to be someone!"

"Let's hope that or we'll sail the seas aimlessly forever," Petro said, "On another note, I have a question regarding your Devil's Fruit. What kind of type is it? Paramecia or Logia? You were able to control wood that was not generated by you, while you were also able to transform your body into wood when you transformed your finger into a key to free us from those seastone handcuffs."

"Oh, that… I'm Logia," Colphor said.

"Then how are you able to repair the ship when it's not generated by you?"

"That's the special thing about the Moku Moku no Mi. I can make wood and plants part of my body. When I was repairing the ship, I temporarily made the ship part of my own body."

"Whoa… impressive."

"However, using that also gives me a big weakness. First of all, I need to grow my feet, or any other part of my body, into the wood of the ship. I can't move from that place and if I do, I immediately lose control. But the biggest weakness is that it really wears me out. When making the ship part of my body, my body grows ten times larger. I need to use much more energy to support the whole ship as my own body. Aside from that, if someone were to hurt the ship when it is part of my body, I feel that pain… it has more disadvantages than advantages, which is why I'd rather not use it too much."

"I see," Petro said. He looked around him and saw a small bar to his right, "hey, I found our bar!"

Petro pointed with his thumb at the bar. They both grinned as they stepped inside the bar. The bar wasn't filled to the brim, but it was pretty crowded. A few people looked up to see the two new people in the bar. More than a few seconds of interest weren't given to them. Petro and Colphor took two places at the counter.

"Sake for two," Petro said, when the bartender looked at them, ready to take their orders.

"Aren't you two a bit too young to drink sake?" the bartender said. Despite that, the bartender prepared to cups of sake for the boys.

"Who cares," Petro said, "as long as you get your money, right?"

The bartender looked at him for a few seconds.

"That's how we usually do it, yes," the bartender said. He turned away and took another order from an already drunk man. Colphor was looking around in the bar. There were a huge variety of people present and Colphor bet on his life that he wasn't the only pirate in the bar.

"So, "the bartender informed, "what's your business here?"

"What good would it be to let you in on that information?" Petro countered.

"Don't get me wrong," the bartender said, while he was busy cleaning a glass, "I usually don't ask for things like that, but you guys make me curious."

"We're here for only a few minutes and we already make you curious?" Petro said, suspicious of the man's true intentions.

"Oh, I've seen your faces longer than today," the bartender said, pointing his thumb at the wall behind him. Several "WANTED"-posters were pinned on the wall. Four of them showed the faces of Colphor, Petro, Mina and Falarda.

"Ah, I see," Petro said.

"What did you four do to get such a high bounty right of the bat?" the bartender asked.

"This guy here," Petro said, pointing at Colphor's forehead, "tried to sink a marine ship and managed to temporarily disable it."

"That's all?" the bartender asked.

"Yup, that's all."

He took a big sip from his sake.

"Ah, this tastes wonderful!" he said like he was in heaven.

"It had to be a pretty important ship then, if that action alone got you such high bounties," the bartender assumed.

"Nope," Petro said, "it was a pretty small one, actually."

The bartender sighed.

"Sounds like the marines have nothing else to do than giving small fishes like you such high bounties. Ever since the Straw Hats disbanded fifteen years ago, after Monkey D. Luffy was caught by the marines and executed, the marines gained much more control over the sea."

"Executed?" a man who had been listening to their conversation for some time now, said, "do you really believe Straw Hat Luffy was executed? Unlike the executions of well-known pirates like Gol D. Roger and Fire Fist Ace, his execution wasn't public. There's never been any proof that Straw Hat Luffy died."

"So there's a possibility that he's still alive, you mean?" Petro asked the man.

"After ruling the seas for twenty-five years after finding One Piece, he's waiting for a new pirate crew to lead the new era, that's my guess," the man shared his beliefs.

Another man in the bar started laughing as soon as the first one had finished his sentence.

"Riley, you shouldn't share those delusional ideas with others."

The man turned towards Colphor and Petro.

"Don't listen to that madman! Even the Pirate King can't survive two Buster Calls! There was never an execution, because his body is lying on the bottom of the sea."

The man laughed again.

"You're greatly underestimating the former Pirate King," Riley said. The other man didn't listen and kept laughing.

"Nowadays the marine is so strong that a Third Pirate King will probably never exist."

That statement seemed to draw Colphor's attention.

"I'm gonna be the third Pirate King!" he exclaimed, drawing the attention of all the people present. Everyone quited down. Suddenly, the man started laughing. Louder than before. His laughing could be heard all the way down the street.

"Tjahaha… don't make me laugh… you? The Pirate King? Tjahahahahaha. If someone like you ever manages to become the Pirate King, I will eat my whole ship. Mark my words! A no-bounty pirate like you… the Pirate King? Aw, man, I haven't laughed so hard in weeks. Hey, bartender, give the boy some extra sake. I'll pay for him! Tjahahaha."

Petro waited for Colphor's reaction, but the reaction didn't come. Colphor turned to the bartender.

"I don't need extra sake. We're leaving."

Colphor reached in his pocket and took some bellies out of it and smacked them on the counter.

"There you go. You can keep the change. To keep up with idiots like him… I have respect for you," Colphor stated, before jumping from his seat and walking over to the door. The bartender had a slight smile on his face.

"_I think I like that boy,"_ the bartender thought. He looked at Riley, who had the same expression as him.

"Maybe… just maybe," Riley said, while he watched the two leave the bar.

* * *

**Author's Note: So uhm, I guess I forgot to do it in the first two chapters, but I don't own One Piece...  
**

**Also, I have a little quiz for you... in Chapter 1, Colphor does something that's simply impossible. I did that, knowing that it actually wasn't possible. I, however, am not the only one that has made that mistake. Mr. 3 from the anime and mange also makes that mistake... can you guess what I mean? I'll give you the answer in chapter 6.  
**


	4. Mina Kidnapped! Falarda's Promise!

**Chapter 4: Mina Kidnapped! Falarda's Promise!**

"Yo, Tybo! Bartho! We're back!" Colphor yelled at the ship. The creaking sound of an opening door sounded through the air and Bartho's head appeared over the railing of the ship.

"Colphor! Petro! You're back already? Did something happen?" Bartho wondered.

Colphor and Petro looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Not really," Colphor answered, "more importantly, where's your brother?"

"Tybo? He went into town to buy some supplies… he said we were particularly low on food."

"I feared so," Colphor replied, "food's namely not the only thing we're low on. We don't have much money either. We started with eight hundred bellies. With a crew of six people, we might be able to live a whole week with that money."

"Yeah, I know," Bartho replied.

"So… how do we get more money?" Petro asked, "Plundering this town?"

"Nah," Colphor immediately replied, "I don't like plundering a peaceful, innocent town."

"Heheh," Petro grinned, "you might call yourself a pirate, but you don't really act like one."

"I'm a pirate because I like adventure and want to follow my own rules! I'm not a pirate to make other people's lives miserable. I'm just different from most other pirates," Colphor stated.

Petro smiled at that answer.

"I think I like you as my captain!" he stated, laughing.

Colphor and Bartho started laughing a few seconds later.

* * *

"Nom nom… this cake is delicious," Colphor stated.

"Don't forget to leave a few pieces for Mina and Falarda too," Petro said.

"Where are they anyway," Tybo, who was back at the ship, said, "it's starting to get late."

"Maybe something happened to them," Bartho guessed, "they both have bounties… you don't think…"

"Bounty hunters!" Petro said, "We never should've let the two weakest members of the crew go together."

He stood up from his place and looked at Colphor, who was still eating like this all didn't concern him one bit. This pissed Petro off a little.

"Show some concern, you woodcaptain!" Petro yelled, while he stomped Colphor on his head.

"Ouch, why did you hit me?" Colphor asked in a whiny voice.

"Something bad could've happened to Mina and Falarda!" Petro stated the problem.

Colphor stuffed another piece of cake in his mouth, while he said:  
"Falarda said he wanted to prove he wasn't a coward… I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Oh? Did he say that?" a voice came from the Middle Deck.

The four were startled by this sudden, unknown voice. Petro threw the door to the Middle Deck open and stepped outside. He saw two people standing on the middle deck with Falarda in between them. He was severely beaten and battered. One of the men turned to Falarda.

"Is that your captain?" he asked when he saw Petro.

Petro stepped aside and let Colphor pass. Colphor looked at the men and Falarda for four seconds.

"Falarda," Colphor said, "who did that to you?"

Falarda bowed his head in guilt.

"I-I'm sorry! I couldn't protect her!"

The two men grinned at this emotional moment. Colphor grabbed his cane from behind his back.

"It's okay," Colphor said, "you gave it your all. I'll get her back."

"We're here to get our additional 38 million," the man on the right said.

The man on the left turned to the man on the right.

"If this is the captain of this "wannabe-pirate", I don't think it'll take us long. It's just a kid."

"I told you it was just a kid," the other said.

The man on the left wanted to answer, but got interrupted by Colphor.

"Yo, are you done chatting?" he asked with a more serious tone than usual. A shadow fell over his eyes.

The two laughed. Petro turned his hands into fists and wanted to charge, but Colphor stopped him.

"Don't bother. They're already standing on my body. They're already in my control."

Petro looked at Colphor's feet, which were connected to the ship. He did one step back and grinned.

"Can you tie them up with your chains when I'm done?" Colphor asked at Petro.

"Of course," Petro answered.

Colphor turned to the two men.

"I'll tell you the three mistakes you made before I'll take care of you two," Colphor said.

"Mistakes? Haha," one of the men laughed.

Colphor ignored him and continued.

"The first mistake was attacking one of my nakama. The second is underestimating me. But the third and biggest mistake is setting foot on my ship! **Wood Creeper**!"

At his command, the wood underneath the two men's feet started growing on their feet and legs. They initially didn't notice, until one of them tried to walk.

"Vince! The ship's trying to envelop us!" the one on the right said to the other.

"Crap!" the other, Vince, cussed, while he tried to free his feet from the wood that was slowly creeping up on his body. He grabbed a pistol that was strapped on his belt, aimed for Colphor and pulled the trigger. By the time the bullet hit its target, Colphor had already turned his forehead into wood.

"Bullets don't work," Colphor said.

Vince grinned.

"They might not work on you, but they do work on this guy here," Vince said, pointing his pistol at the place Falarda was sitting. Colphor turned to Petro.

"Good work," Colphor complimented.

"HEY! You should be looking here!" Vince yelled, pissed off by the ignorance he got from Colphor, "if you don't listen to me, your buddy here is gone!"

"What buddy?" Colphor asked.

This angered Vince even more.

"This buddy he…" he stopped in the middle of his sentence. He looked down where Falarda was supposed to sit.

"Wh… where is…" Vince began.

"It's kinda pathetic how you didn't notice that Petro took Falarda away from you using his chains," Colphor said.

"Crap!" Vince exclaimed.

The wood had already reached his chest.

"W-Wait!" Vince said, in a whole different tone than before, "S-stop!"

The wood didn't stop growing.

"Throw your pistol away," Colphor commanded.

Vince hesitated for a moment, but listened to what Colphor said. He threw his pistol a few meters behind him. Colphor turned to Tybo.

"Tybo, throw that pistol into the sea."

Tybo walked over to the pistol and picked it up.

"W-Wait! You can't… that pistol…" Vince said.

He was interrupted by Colphor.

"This isn't the time to worry about a simple pistol."

A second later, a "splash" told the seven people on board that the pistol was now on its way to the bottom of the ocean. Colphor turned to Petro.

"I can't hold on much longer," Colphor said, "do you think you can finish this quickly. Keep them alive. We need to know where Mina is."

Petro smiled.

"I know, I know…"

"Good, I'll leave the rest up to you!"

The wood immediately retracted. Petro didn't give the two the chance to do anything.

"**Chain Binding**!" Petro yelled. Vince and his partner were immediately tied by chains.

"**Lock**!" was Petro's next command.

The chains were released from Petro's body and the two ends of each chain connected to each other. There was no movement possible for Vince and his partner. Colphor was panting, leaning on his knees.

"Bartho, can you give me another slice of that cake?" Colphor asked.

Bartho smiled

"Right away!" Bartho yelled joyfully.

Colphor turned to Falarda. Falarda immediately turned his eyes away from Colphor, feeling guilty about the fact that he couldn't protect Mina. Colphor laid one hand on Falarda's shoulder. Falarda looked up and right into Colphor's eyes.

"You shouldn't feel so guilty," Colphor said, "you did all you could! You can't do more than what you're capable of."

A tear formed in Falarda's eyes.

"That's just the thing," he said, "I'm capable of nothing!"

A tear fell to the ground.

"I don't care if you're strong or not," Colphor explained, "you're my nakama. Our nakama! That's all that matters!"

Falarda fell on his hands and knees. Tears ran down his face. He pressed his forehead against the deck that was wet from his tears.

"I promise… I promise I will become stronger!" he yelled.

Colphor smiled.

"I PROMISE!" Falarda yelled once again, "that, I swear!"

Colphor squatted down, sitting on his haunches. He laid his hand on Falarda's shoulder once more, while he let Falarda cry out his tears.

"I know you will," Colphor said with a smile on his face.

* * *

"The boss seems pissed off,"

Wion looked at Cevernis, the one he was talking to.

"It's no wonder," Cevernis answered, "Ferdinand and Vince are still not back. What could take them so long. They're just a bunch of kids."

Cevernis looked around. The place they were in wasn't the usual one. The group bounty hunters "Zehim Bounty Hunters", named after their boss, Zehim Danny, was usually situated in their luxe headquarters. Unfortunately, that building was currently under construction, after one of the people they had caught escaped and caused a big ruckus, destroying half of the building. They had temporarily made an empty storage-room close to the harbor, previously used for temporary storage of goods that came in from the harbor, their headquarters.

"It hasn't been going very smooth for us lately," Wion stated, "and I hate this place. It smells bad and it doesn't fit people like us at all!"

"The only thing you ever do is whine," Cevernis said.

"Say that again and I'll beat you up!" Wion threatened.

Cevernis wanted to continue their quarrel, but it was rudely interrupted by a kid's voice.

"Yo, people, I've got a delivery for you!"

The people present looked at the open entrance of the storage-room. Colphor was silhouetted against the sunlight that shone into the storage-room. Petro, Bartho, Tybo and Falarda came in from behind Colphor. Colphor threw two objects on the ground, which proved to be Ferdinand and Vince, nicely tied up with an overload of chains.

Someone, apparently the boss, stepped forward.

"Who are you?" he asked sternly.

"We've come to bring our nakama back and deliver the two idiots that thought they could mess with us," Colphor said, ignoring Zehim Danny's question. He turned to his friends.

"Go wild," he simply said.

"With pleasure," Petro said, grinning, while he transformed his arms into chains.

Zehim Danny saw that this was an attack and commanded:

"Grab them!"

Several bounty hunters ran towards the group but their feets were caught inside chains that were lying on the ground. Chains that were connected to Petro's legs. With one simple pull, all those that were caught by the chains lost their balance and fell to the ground.

"**Multi Chain Binding**!" Petro yelled and immediately, all those who had been caught in the chains were tied together with Petro's chains.

"**Multi Lock**!" Petro then yelled.

Petro looked at Zehim Danny and said with an arrogant voice:  
"You don't just "grab us"!"

The bounty hunters that were left were hesitating.

"Don't just stand there!" Zehim Danny yelled, "they're a bunch of stupid kids! Don't freak out after seeing a simple trick!"

That seemed to give the bounty hunters enough strength to charge again.

"I'll leave the rest up to you," Colphor said to the others.

Petro nodded.

"**A Hundred Chain Snakes**!" he yelled. Again, his chains began to crawl over the floor, searching for the legs of unlucky bounty hunters. Colphor used this distraction to charge at Zehim Danny.

"Grab him!" Zehim Danny yelled, as he saw Colphor running at him. Colphor kept running, getting closer to Zehim Danny with every step.

"GIVE! US! MINA! BAAAAACK!"

* * *

**Author's Note: I still don't own One Piece... all characters here are mine. Monkey D. Luffy, mentioned in the previous chapter, belongs to Eiichiro Oda... Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated! Tell me what you think!  
**


	5. Fight Against The Zehim Bounty Hunters!

**Chapter 5: Fight Against The Zehim Bounty Hunters!**

Swords clanged against each other. Bartho had found his equal in this battle.

"Pretty powerful for such a young lad," the bounty hunter in front of him said.

"You think so?" Bartho said, accepting the compliment with full pleasure, "I'm not THAT good."

His opponent felt a little out of place and didn't know how to react to this weird swordsman.

"Don't let your guard down!" he yelled, dashing forward with two katanas in his hands. Bartho skillfully intercepted those katanas with his own two katanas. The two were continually lashing out at each other, but aside from some scratches, not much damage was done to either one of them.

"This is going nowhere," Bartho remarked. He jumped back a few times, grabbed two blades without hilts from under his clothes and strapped them under his sandals. He jumped up and landed on the two blades under his feet. Or rather, the two blades penetrated the stone floor beneath him, giving him plenty of balance. Next, he stretched out both his arms while crossing the swords he held in his hands.

"**Yontoryuu Torpedo**!" he yelled, charging at the man with amazing speed. Just before Bartho reached the man, he jumped up lashing out with the two swords in his hands. The man managed to stop those two blades, but didn't have anything to defend himself with against the two blades underneath Bartho's sandals. Still in the air, Bartho plunged the two blades into the man's abdomen with all his might. The man got a distant look in his eyes and Bartho could feel the man weakening. The man coughed up blood, some of which spat on Bartho's face. The man fell backwards, while Bartho safely landed on his two feet behind him. He pierced the floor with the blades under his sandals to clean the blades from the blood. It wasn't very effective, but he shouldn't complain. He hid the blades under his clothes and got ready to fight his next opponent. He looked to his right where he saw his brother using the same yontoryuu style on another bounty hunter.

* * *

"**Multi Binding**! **Multi Lock**!" Petro yelled. He searched around, trying to find Mina. There wasn't a single sign of her. He didn't have time to be looking around too much. There were still bounty hunters left, some of which were charging at Petro again.

"You've left yourself open here!" one yelled behind him, sword lifted over his head, ready to strike. Petro didn't bother turning around and immediately jumped away.

"Don't yell like an idiot," Petro chastised the bounty hunter, "you're giving yourself away. **Chain Whip**!"

Using his chains as a whip, Petro smashed the man to the ground.

"Gah! Stay away!" Falarda's voice sounded behind him.

"How's it going there?" Petro asked with a teasing smile.

"CAN'T YOU TELL!" Falarda yelled. He was driven in a corner, about to be sliced to pieces by several bounty hunters.

"It's the end for you!" one of the bounty hunters yelled, lifting an axe. He wanted to bring it down on Falarda but was obstructed by something. A chain was wrapped around the hilt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… no hurting our helmsman," Petro said behind him, "We still need him."

"**Chain Whip**!" Petro said, using his other hand for that attack. All four bounty hunters were hit by the attack and thrown against the wall.

"Are you okay?" Petro asked his scared companion.

"Y-Y-Yeah… tha… BEHIND YOU!"

Petro looked over his shoulder. A bounty hunter was about to strike him with his katana. Petro immediately moved his hands behind his back and connected them with a chain. He caught the sword with his chains just in time. Petro kicked backwards and seemed to hit a rather painful place between the man's legs. The man fell to his knees, trying to ease the pain in the place he was hit.

"Idiot," Petro scolded, before smashing the man's head into the ground with his foot.

* * *

"Where is Mina!" Colphor yelled in Zehim's face. He grabbed the cane from behind his back and placed it in front of him. Zehim had already grabbed his sword. He grinned when he heard the question.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Zehim said teasingly.

Colphor pointed his cane at Zehim and yelled:

"**Wooden Lance**!"

Colphor's cane suddenly grew longer and sharpened. The attack barely missed Zehim, who dodged it.

"Y-You're a Devil's Fruit user!" Zehim said surprised.

Colphor couldn't care less about Zehim's amazement and yelled:

"I'll ask again! Where is Mina!"

Zehim hesitated but decided to tell the kid the truth. He grinned.

"Heh… you won't be able to save her anymore! She's already on a ship to the next island. The marines are already waiting there for her arrival. You won't be able to save her anymore!"

"W-W-What?" Colphor said, shocked by this new information. He stared in the arrogant face of Zehim. Right now, he really wanted to give this man a good beating, but right now, they needed to be fast to save Mina. Colphor gave Zehim an angry stare before turning around.

"Guys! We're going!" Colphor said, running towards the exit.

"What?" Petro yelled, "What about Mina? Did you find her?"

"No. But she isn't here!"

"How can you be so sure!" Petro yelled, fending off another bounty hunter.

Colphor dodged the attack of a bounty hunter and knocked him out with a powerful hit from his cane.

"That guy just told me!" Colphor answered.  
Petro, together with Falarda, caught up with Colphor.

"And you believe him?" Petro asked.

Bartho also caught up with them.  
"If he tells the truth," Bartho stated, "then we need to hurry."

"But we can't just blindly trust that this guy tells the truth!" Petro objected.

"At least here, she is safe," Tybo said, also having caught up with the rest. They ran out of the storage-room, with several bounty hunters on their tail.

"SAFE?" Petro yelled indignantly, "This place is anything but "safe"!"

"I mean… what would you rather want? Mina being here, where we can always save her from, or Mina being in custody and protected by marines?" Tybo said, explaining the two options.

Petro understood it very well.

"I'll stay behind," Bartho suddenly suggested.

This surprised every one of them.

"What do you mean? Why would you…?" Petro began.

"I'll keep watching their hide-out in case they still have here and free her. I'll manage," Bartho explained.

"Are you sure?" Petro asked worriedly

Bartho nodded.

"Right now, you shouldn't be too worried about me, but more about your sister."

Their ship came into sight.

"Alright," Bartho said, "I'll stop here and fend off the bounty hunters. You need to set sail immediately!"

Colphor and Petro both nodded. Bartho turned around and lifted his two swords in front of him.

"Well then… let's have some more fun!" he said with an enthusiastic grin on his face.

The few bounty hunters halted and got into fighting stances.

* * *

"Tybo! Untie the sails immediately! Falarda, get behind the helm! Petro, get that anchor from the bottom of the see so we can leave!" Colphor yelled his commands.

"_So he CAN be serious if he needs to,"_ Petro thought.

Colphor disappeared into the hallway that led to the cannon storage room.

"Maps, maps… I knew I'd seen some maps around here!" Colphor thought out loud.

A shock went through the ship. The sails had caught wind. The anchor was being retrieved from the bottom of the sea.

"Are you searching for these?" Tybo's voice sounded from upstairs.

"Colphor stuck his head around the corner and saw Tybo with several pieces of paper in his hands.

"YOOOOOO!" it sounded from the docks.

Petro looked over the railing and saw Bartho with someone's body on his shoulder.

"This guy here is a navigator. You'll need him to get to the next island!"

Bartho delivered the man on board and jumped back. Just in time, as the ship began to sail.

"See ya later!" Colphor yelled from the back Deck, leaning over the railing.

"See ya later!" Bartho yelled back, waving.

* * *

"There's not much wind!" Tybo remarked when they had left the island, "depending on what kind of ship the ones we're pursuing are using, they either might get further ahead of us or we might get closer to them."

The sun was going under and soon, the world would be enveloped by the darkness of the night. Petro was leaning against the railing, staring at the setting sun. Colphor walked over to him and leaned against the railing next to Petro.

"Yo, Falarda!" Tybo yelled, "has our scumbag navigator awakened yet?"

"Not yet!" Falarda could be faintly heard, "he's still unconscious!"

Petro's eyes looked at Colphor.

"That stick… er… cane, I mean," he began, "there's a story behind it, isn't there?"

Colphor looked up.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Colphor said, snapping out of his thoughts. He grabbed the cane from behind his back and held it in front of him.

"It's my greatest treasure. It's made by the person I want to surpass one day."

"Ooooh?" Petro said, interested by this, "Must've been a great person then."

Colphor looked with a serious look on his face at Petro and then back at his cane. He then shook his head.

"Not really," Colphor said.

"What do you mean?" Petro asked, rather surprised by this answer.

"My initial reason to become a pirate is not my wish to become the Third Pirate King. It is to search for a man I want to surpass and to retrieve a friend that man took away from me three years ago. And I believe that by becoming the Third Pirate King, I can prove myself to be strong enough to be able to surpass that man!"

"Who is this man that you speak of?" Petro inquired.

"DeGybon Rasper," Colphor answered.

"D-D-DeGybon Rasper!" Petro yelled, shocked, "Colphor, do you know what that man is!"

Colphor's expression changed to one of anger.

"Yes… one of the Shichibukai and long thought to be the strongest pirate on the Grand Line, until he decided to become Shichibukai. Many thought that he would become the Third Pirate King. He had a bounty of 295.000.000 prior to becoming a Shichibukai," Colphor said.

"We'll get that bastard," Tybo said, joining the conversation.

Colphor nodded at Tybo.

"Wait," Petro said, surprised to see that Tybo also had a part in this story, "you and your brother know this person too?"

"You bet!"

Their conversation was interrupted by Falarda's yell.

"GUYS! The guy has awakened!"

"Aight!" Colphor exclaimed, "I'll help you bring the guy up!"

* * *

A few seconds later, the four pirates stared down at their temporary navigator, tied up with loads of Petro's chains.

"Who are you guys?" were the first words that came from his mouth. A second later, he seemed to recognize their faces.

"What am I doing here?" was his next question.

"You're going to lead us to the place where they're taking Mina," Colphor answered the man's questions.

"And what makes you think I will help you?" the man answered.

Petro turned to Colphor.

"Didn't I tell you?" he said.

"So… does this mean we're going to throw him overboard?" Colphor wondered.

"No, no, no," Tybo reminded Colphor, "that was plan G. You were first going to torture him utilizing your control over wood and stuff like that. After that we were going to force-feed him the rotten apples from last week. If that doesn't work…"

He was interrupted by the man.

"W-Wait, you guys! I've made up my mind… I'll help you out.

"_Coward," _were the collected thoughts of all four of the pirates.

"Much appreciated," Colphor replied.

"So, first things first," Falarda said, starting the interrogation. He shone a lamp right in the man's face.

"Where were you last night at three o'clock!" Falarda said with a dangerous tone in his voice. He immediately got stomped on his head by Petro.  
"You idiot! Don't waste our time with stupid games!" Petro yelled.

"But I've always wanted to say that!" Falarda cried out, rubbing the back of his head to ease the pain a little. Tybo and Colphor were laughing in the background, amused by Falarda and Petro's actions. Petro sighed and turned to the man who was wondering whether these people were really pirates or a group of comedians.

"All madness aside," Petro said, kicking Falarda away, who landed on his head a few meters away from Petro.

"OUCH! HEY, WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Falarda yelled. A second bump appeared on his head. He was ignored by Petro.

"Where are they taking Mina?" Petro asked.

"Vihan Island," was the man's short answer.

"How do you know?" was Petro's answer. He didn't trust the man in the slightest.

"That's where we always take the people we catch, to… Iuda Island doesn't have a marine base. The Marine has better things to do than to keep watch over a small island like Iuda Island. So that's why we need to sail to Vihan Island, the closest island. It takes around 6 hours normally to get from here to there, but with wind like this, I'd say your ship would take 7 hours, while the ship that's transporting your friend would take around 8 hours."

Petro took a few seconds to take all that information in.

"When did that ship depart?" he asked.

"I'd say around an hour ago," the man replied.

"So that means that we will arrive at Vihan Island at around the same time," Petro concluded.

"Not if you keep going like this," the man stated, "you're way off course."

"How can you tell?" Petro said, not trusting what the man said.

"I'm a navigator, I can tell that kind of things!" the man explained.

"You seem a bit too eager to help us," Petro said. He didn't like the fact that this man was far too willing to help them.

"I'm helping you because I want your bounties," the man said, grinning.

Petro didn't understand that and the man saw that.

"Look, if I take you to Vihan Island, you'll be surrounded by marines. And who do you think led those pirates there? That's right? Me! Zehim won't come after me to save me, so my only chance of escaping is to have you all annihilated by the marines. I've seen how powerful you are… I might be able to take him out," the man looked at Falarda, who immediately gave the man a "SHUT UP"-face, "but the rest of you are monsters, especially considering your age."

Petro grinned.

"I see… that makes sense."

Colphor stepped towards the man.

"Hey, what's your name?" he asked.

"Call me Rover," the man said.

"Alright, Rover, want to be part of my crew? We need a navigator," Colphor suggested.

That resulted in a stomp from Petro.

"Don't ask that to everyone!" he said angrily.

"Even if you begged me, I wouldn't want to," Rover said, "I'd rather die than becoming a pirate."

"Oh, why?" Colphor asked.

"Don't ask that! That's private, useless information!" Petro said, stomping Colphor once again.

"No, I'll tell you…"

"WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" Petro interrupted him immediately, stomping both Rover and Colphor again.

"Hey, I didn't deserve that last one!" Colphor yelled, rubbing the back of his head to ease the pain.

* * *

**Author's Note: Whoo! Next chapter's done... disclaimer's not really necessary, since everything in this chapter is made up by me, except for the world they live in of course... oh, well... let's say it all together: I don't own One Piece! **

**I first wanted to make this arc small... like, 2 chapters... I originally planned to have Mina freed at the end of this chapter, but as I started writing, things worked out differently than I first originally planned. I think this arc will go on for another 4 chapters, maybe less, maybe more...  
**

**As always, I'd be really happy if you review my story... even so much as "I like this story/chapter" (or "I don't like this story/chapter, because..." for that matter) is enough. It'll encourage me to write on, because that way, I'll know I'm not just writing for myself.  
**

**Also, don't forget the question I asked in the Author's Note of Chapter 3. I've decided to reward the one with the right answer... he or she can make an OC, which will eventually become one of the main crew.  
**

**With all that said, I hope you enjoyed the story and hope you'll be looking out for the next one! Have a nice day!  
**


	6. Cito, Captain Of The Marine Pirates!

**Chapter 6: Arrival At Vihan Island! Cito, Captain Of The Marine Pirates!**

"Captain Uhibi," Delbin began, leaning on the chair back of one of the four chairs available in the room, neatly positioned around a table. Across the table sat the person he was talking to: Captain Uhibi. Uhibi swallowed before answering to his name.

"Yes."

"I take you know why you have been called here," Delbin spoke. He threw down four bounty posters on the table. The captain stayed silent. Delbin added a newspaper to the collection of paper on the table.

"I, and together with me are all the higher-ups in East Blue, am wondering what got into you… and more importantly, I am wondering what's behind this all?"

Captain Uhibi read the heading on the newspaper: Pirates Disable Warship. A photo of the ship was added right beside the text where the whole situation was explained.

"There are some things in your report," Delbin said, throwing down even more pieces of paper in the table, which proved to be the captain's report," that are rather unclear."

The Captain still didn't reply.

"Uhibi!" Delbin said sternly, "Do you really think the higher-ups will be satisfied with this report? There are plotholes in here," Delbin slammed his hand on the report, "where the earth could fit into!"

The Captain stayed silent.

"I have a few questions for you and I want you to answer them all honestly!"

The Captain swallowed once more and moved a little on his chair. He opened his mouth but didn't immediately find the right words.

"I…"

He moved a little more in his chair.

"I'll tell you everything," Uhibi finally stated, "but on one condition: I keep my title of Captain!"

Delbin had expected this proposition.

"Uhibi, you know that the higher-ups really want to see you leave… you've been a pain in the ass from the moment you joined the ranks, doing things that a marine shouldn't do."

Delbin paused and looked at Uhibi, who was nervously moving on his chair.

"Uhibi… I know you understand… there's little chance that you can keep your title, whatever you say. And frankly, I'm tired of defending you every time in front of the higher-ups. I'm doing this because you're a close friend of mine, but you're making it really hard for me."

"I don't want to lose my title!" Uhibi yelled, jumping up from his chair, which fell down behind him.

"Sit down!" Delbin yelled back immediately. That startled Uhibi. He managed to regain his composure, walked over to his chair, pulled it up and sat down on it again.

"Uhibi, even I can't help you this time."

Uhibi sighed.

"So I might as well spill the beans, eh?" Uhibi said, verbalizing Delbin's thoughts.

Delbin nodded. Uhibi looked at him angrily.

"You wish!"

That startled Delbin.

"Don't be so unreasonable!" Delbin said.

"Even if I'm not a marine, I can still get those children back!" Uhibi said.  
"Children? What do you mean? Do you have a connection with one of the Wooden Cane Pirates?" Delbin guessed.

"I do not wish to talk about it. You'll have to do with that report! I resign from the marines!"

With that, he stood up and walked over to the door.

"W-Wait! What are you saying, you idiot!" Delbin yelled.

"I'm no longer a marine!" Uhibi said, throwing his jacket on the floor. He opened the door and left.

"_That idiot! Does he not know we could still ask Lieutenant Trungil for information?"_

* * *

That evening, however, the dead body of Lieutenant Trungil was found in his apartment, stabbed in the chest by a sword. He was murdered. He was not the only one. All marines thought to have a connection with the incident were found dead in their homes, including Chief Petty Officer Magdalena. The prime suspect: Ferny Uhibi.

* * *

"Say, Petro," Colphor asked, "why were you tied up when I found you, anyways? What did you do?"

Petro's red eyes flickered.

"I do not wish to talk about that," Petro said. He looked at Falarda.

"You know it, right?" he asked.

"Y-Y-Yes," Falarda answered, "I heard Captain Uhibi talking about it against Lieutenant Trungil."

"I see… I'll warn you then… if you ever talk about it to others, including our captain here, I will kill you."

Falarda jumped back, scared.

"U-U-Understood!"

Colphor sighed. The kitchen door opened and Tybo yelled:

"Guys! Dinner's ready!"

* * *

"Yo, Colphor! Colphor! Wake up, you woodcaptain!" Petro yelled, shaking his captain thoroughly to get him into the land of the living again.

Colphor, half-awake, tried to push Petro away.

"Come on, mom… just a little longer!"

This resulted in a stomp from Petro, which woke up Colphor in an instant.

"OUCH! MOM! THAT HURT!" he yelled, jumping up.

"I'm not your mom!" Petro yelled, eager to stomp Colphor yet another time.

"Hey, you're right… you're not my mother!"

"You dimwit!" Petro scolded.

"What did you wake me for?" Colphor asked.

"You were making too much noise!" Petro said, pissed off.

"And we've spotted the ship and Vihan Island," Tybo added.

"Uh, yeah, that too," Petro said.

"Alright! Shoot that ship to smithereens with our cannons!" Colphor yelled.

He was stomped on his head once again by Petro.

"You idiot! Mina will drown if you do that!" he scolded.

"Ah, you're right!" Colphor said, slamming his fist in the palm of his other hand. He turned around and searched around the ship.

"Hey, Rover! Rover! Where are you!" he yelled. He turned to Petro.

"Where is he?"

"Tied up in the cannon storage room," Petro said.

"Why?" Colphor immediately asked.

Petro got irritated.

"Can't you even guess that?" Petro yelled, "he could alert the enemy of our presence!"

"Ah, I see," Colphor said, slamming his fist in the palm of his other hand… again…

Petro turned around and facepalmed.

"Seriously, at times like these, I wonder if it really was a good choice to join this crew under this captain."

Colphor ignored Petro's comment and asked:  
"So… how are we going to free Mina?"

Petro started speaking again:  
"The captain usually comes up with strategies, but knowing how much of a strategist you are, I prepared and started thinking about it."

"So that means you have a strategy?" Falarda asked, walking in on their conversation.

"Well… that's the thing… uhm… well, you see…"

"You don't have a strategy," Falarda guessed.

"That's one way to put it," Petro replied.

Falarda facepalmed.

"Hey! Don't give me that! I'm not a strategist!"

"I don't think we really need a plan," Colphor stated. This drew the attention of his two friends.  
"What do you mean with that?" Petro asked.

"Well… we just need to catch up with that ship and kick the people's asses on there, right?"

Petro scratched the back of his head.

"Well, yeah… I guess you're ri… WAIT A MINUTE! We're not just gonna barge in like that!"

"Why not?" Colphor asked.

Petro didn't seem to be able to find answer on that question.

"Don't jump the gun," Falarda reminded them, "we don't even know if we'll be able to catch up with them in the first place."

Tybo interrupted the conversation from the crow's nest.

"Guys, it's like that Rover said! The bay is covered with marine ships."

"Somewhere, that doesn't seem right," Petro commented.

"Yeah, now you mention it," Falarda said, "something is strange about this situation."

"The marines shouldn't know about Mina, right? So why are they there with so many?" Colphor wondered aloud. A moment of silence, before Falarda and Petro both slammed their fist in the palm of their other hand.

"I see," Petro said.

It was silent once more.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Petro yelled at his captain, "why are you the one to realize that?"

Tybo laughed.

"You're both below Colphor's IQ-level," he said.

Falarda and Petro sunk to the floor, depressed after realizing this. Colphor turned around.

"Hey, what's wrong with you too?"

"Nothing," both replied simultaneously.

"That aside," Tybo said, jumping down skillfully from the crow's nest, "this is gonna be tricky."

Falarda and Petro snapped out of their depressed state. Tybo continued:  
"Even if we manage to catch up with that boat, the marines will notice us and blow our ship to smithereens within moments!"

"So that means…" Petro began.

"Exactly," Tybo concluded, "we can't pursue the ship any longer, or we'll be committing suicide! Colphor can repair the ship after every hit, but long before we reach that ship, let alone the shore, Colphor will be completely exhausted."

"But we can't leave Mina!" Petro yelled, worried.

"We'll never leave her! We'll free her, even if it's the last thing we do, Petro!" Colphor said. He turned to Falarda.

"Get to the helm. We're gonna change our course…"

"Huh?" Petro exclaimed surprised.

Though confused by this command, Falarda followed the order and took the helm.

"We're going to go around the island and dock there," Colphor explained.

"Aye aye," Falarda said, changing course.

"What will we do when we have arrived at the island?" Petro wondered.

"From what I've seen on the map, this island isn't that big. If we were to dock at the other side of the island, it would take around half an hour to get to the town," Colphor went on with explaining.

"_He had planned this far ahead?" _Petro wondered.

"Or at least, that's what Rover told me after he said we might need to dock at the other side of the island," Colphor said.

"_Right… stupid question. Of course he didn't," _Petro thought, mentally facepalming himself.

"But by that time, Mina will already be in custody of the marines! How are we gonna save them then?" Petro wondered aloud.

Colphor grinned.

"What do you think? We're gonna kick those marine asses, until we find Mina!"

"Too simple," Petro said, glaring at Colphor.

"We first need to gather information about where they're taking Mina and after that, we can kick all the asses we want!" Tybo suggested.

"That's still too simple!" Petro yelled.

"I like that plan!" Colphor said, grinning.

"You're too simple!" Petro yelled.

He sighed and facepalmed.

"Alright, alright, I'll go along with the plan," Petro said, surrendering to the idiocy of the plan.

* * *

"Captain Cito! Captain Cito!" a kid yelled, running as fast as he could. That name caused several other kids to stick their heads out of the door of an old, run-down building, situated at the other side of the island. A kid around twelve years old walked out of the house and greeted the boy, who was probably not older than eight.

"Hoya!" he greeted, "Hugo, what's the matter? You look exhausted!"

"A pirate ship…" the kid said, panting.

"Eeeeeh?" Cito said, startled.

"A pirate ship just docked at this side of the island!" Hugo explained, pointing to a hill, "they're just behind those hills!"

"W-What!" Cito yelled, baffled by this news.

He instantly started running toward the hill and soon reached the top. And at that moment, Hugo's words were proven to be true. There WAS a pirate ship!

"_What are pirates doing here of all places! Don't they know what this place is! I need to warn them… no… giving warnings is not how a pirate would act. I know! I'll scare them away!"_

From the ship, four people came walking over to them, all of them guys… or rather boys. They were rather small.

Cito inhaled and then yelled:

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

The four people halted and looked up toward the hill.

"Good evening!" the boy with purple hair greeted, waving at him. Cito found this a bit awkward.

"I won't let you go any further!" Cito yelled, ignoring the boy's greeting.

"Who're you?" the boy with purple hair asked, also ignoring Cito.

"Me? I'm Captain Cito, of the Marine Pirates!"

Even the wind seemed to quiet down when Cito answered. There was an awkward silence before Petro started laughing.

"The… the Marine Pirates? Marine… Pirates? Bwahahahahaha! Ohohohoho… is everyone on this island as funny as you?" Petro laughed, rolling on the ground from laughter. Falarda was also holding in his laughter.

"OI! KORA! Don't laugh at me! You don't know who you're messing with!" Cito yelled angrily.

"Oi!" Colphor yelled back, "have you seen Mina?"

Cito blinked a few times.

"Who?" he finally asked.

"A little girl with red eyes, blonde hair and very long pigtails," Tybo elucidated.

"Never seen someone like that," Cito answered.

"Souka. Thank you for your time," Colphor said, "let's go, guys!"

They walked on, until Colphor stopped almost right in front of Cito.

"Ah, wait… one last question," Colphor said, "which way is the town?"

Cito pointed behind him.

"Right that way," Cito said, before realizing what he was doing, "HOLD ON A MINUTE! You're not supposed to pass me! I'm Captain Cito of the Marine Pirates! You're not allowed to set one step closer to me and… KORA! LISTEN TO ME!"

The four had already passed Cito, while he was holding his speech. Pissed off, Cito caught up to them and blocked their way, spreading his arms.

"I said: you won't pass me."

"We already did once," Falarda said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up! That one didn't count!" Cito yelled back.  
"You're unreasonable," Falarda said.

Petro looked at Falarda.

"I know another person like that," he joked, grinning.

"Right back at you!" Falarda said, with suppressed irritation.

"You guys don't act as pirates," Cito suddenly commented, "and you guys are far too young to be pirates!"

"Look who's talking!" Petro yelled in reply to the second part of Cito's remark.

"Shut up!" Cito yelled, "you're too old to be a pirate!"

"That doesn't make sense!" Petro replied, "I'm only seventeen!"

"Shut up! That doesn't count!" Cito reacted.

"That doesn't even make remotely sense!" Petro yelled, irritated.

"Shut u…"

"Are you coming, guys?" Colphor asked, having passed Cito for the second time.

"KORA! What did I say about passing me?" Cito yelled once again.

"Shut up!" Petro said this time, passing Cito together with Falarda and Tybo, "you're annoying!"

* * *

**READ THESE! THEY'RE MORE IMPORTANT THEN YOU THINK... I guess... probably... it would be much appreciated if you read them... ^^ *sheepishly smile***

**Author's Note: Guess what guys! I still don't own One Piece!**

**I loved writing this chapter, especially the second part, with Cito... Until I started writing him, I wasn't really sure about how I would portray Cito, so I simply started and decided to see with what kind of personality he would end up with! And I like the result! I hope you do too!  
**

**Anyways, reviews and subscriptions are much appreciated! A special thanks to "alice" for reviewing the story! I can't thank you enough! ;)  
**

**Now then... the moment you have all been waiting for: in chapter 3, I asked the readers a question: Both Colphor in this story (chapter 1 to be precise) and Mr. 3 from the anime, made a mistake that is impossible. The one who answered this question correctly was... no-one... there weren't any guesses *forever alone*... oh, well... I'll tell you anyway... it's about the opening of the seastone shackles. Both Mr. 3 and Colphor have used their powers to open these shackles... however, these seastone shackles are supposed to cancel out Devil Fruit's powers, meaning that, as soon as Mr. 3 and Colphor touched the seastone shackles, their powers would be nullified. Petro could never really be freed, nor could Ace really be freed from his shackles (and Ace wasn't the only one who was freed by Mr. 3 in the anime)... but oh, well... with an anime as epic as One Piece, who cares about logic!  
**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are happily awaiting the next one! Have a nice day!  
**


	7. Vihan Island In Chaos! Golden Justice!

**Chapter 7: Vihan Island In Chaos! Golden Justice!**

"Did we lose that guy?" Petro asked, not really to anyone in particular, while looking back over his shoulder.

"Why did we suddenly start to run?" Colphor asked Petro.

"To lose that Cido or whatever that kid's called. I didn't listen too closely to his babbling, so I don't know."

"Ah, I see... Oh… by the way, where are Falarda and Tybo?" Colphor asked.

"I don't know," Petro answered. It took him a total of five seconds to realize what Colphor had just said.

"W-Wait! What do you mean "where are Falarda and Tybo"?" he yelled shocked.

"Well… they're not here…so I thought I'd ask you, since you mostly know those kind of things," Colphor explained.

"Well… I don't know!" Petro said, irritated, "those idiots! If getting lost gets them in trouble, I'm not gonna get them out of it!" he promised. He glared to his side where Colphor was standing… or at least, where he was supposed to be standing.

"_Although the one I'm teamed up with is the biggest troublemaker of all!" _Colphor thought, facepalming.

"Hey, Colphor! Where have you gone?" he yelled.

"I'm here!" it came from behind him.

He turned around and saw Colphor standing in front of a bar.

"Wait, what are you doing? Where are you going?" he asked.

"What do you think? We're going in here, of course! I want to drink some sake," Colphor grinned.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT, YOU IDIOT!" Petro scolded, "We need to gather information about Mina and…"

Petro stopped when he saw Colphor going into the bar.

"Hey! Listen to what I'm saying!" he yelled. He didn't get any response from Colphor. Petro sighed, looked down the street and also walked into the bar. When he came in, he saw Colphor already sitting on a seat at the counter. He walked over to him and took a seat next to him. The bartender looked at them surprised.

"What are you kids doing here?" he asked, wondering why little kids like them were in a bar.

"Sake for two, please," Colphor ordered, a big grin donning his face.

The bartender blinked a few times before replying.

"Get back home and ask your mother for some milk. I'm not gonna give you minors any alcohol!" he said.

This time Petro and Colphor blinked surprised.

"We have enough money!" Colphor said, "here, look!"

He showed the man a few bellies, enough to buy at least four cups of sake.

"Money's not the problem, here, you brats! Now get out of here, before I'll kick you out myself. Your parents clearly didn't give you a decent upbringing," the bartender said.

"Home? Parents? I don't have either one of those," Colphor said.

"You're homeless! Then that money… whom did you steal that from!" the bartender yelled angrily. Several people in the bar noticed that the bartender had an argument with two kids and were interested in how this would turn out.

"Homeless? I'm not homeless! This money is mine!" Colphor said, putting the money away again, "we're pirates! And we'd like to drink some sake."

At the mention of "pirates", the whole bar quieted down.

"Somehow, this feels like a déjà vu," Petro whispered to Colphor.

"Kid," a hoarse voice said behind them. Colphor turned around and saw a strong-built man standing right behind him. From Colphor's perspective, the man's head almost hit the ceiling. The whole bar was watching at what was going to happen next, "do you have any idea where you are?"

As he said that, his hand turned gold and he grabbed Colphor at his head and smacked him against… no… THROUGH the counter. Petro jumped from his seat, startled by this sudden attack. Dust particles flew up from the place where Colphor had previously been sitting. The man turned to Petro, ready to do the same to him.

"Mister, you're scary," Colphor, whom the man thought was unconscious after that powerful attack, said. He stood up in the hole in the counter that the man had just created, causing more dust to fly up. He wiped the dust of his clothes. There was mumbling coming from the people in the bar and the man turned around, slightly surprised. Colphor continued speaking:  
"You managed to make cracks in my head and you weren't even using half of your power!"

Colphor's head, which had turned to wood, indeed showed several cracks, which were quickly recovering. The man was startled by both Colphor's powers and the perceptive words Colphor had spoken.

"Kid… did you eat a Devil's Fruit?" the man asked.

"Yes… how did you know?" Colphor answered and asked.

"A normal person would have a broken nose after that. A kid like you should be unconscious right now," the man explained.

"_That's not the thing you're supposed to notice first!" _Petro thought_, "Colphor's wooden face would be enough to convince everyone that he ate a Devil's Fruit!"_

"Tell me your name," the man said, "I'll give you an honorable mention in the newspaper article about your capture."

"_Capture? Wait, don't tell me these guys are…" _Petro thought.

"Colphor," Colphor answered.

"Colphor?" someone in the bar said, "Wooden Cane Colphor? The 20.000.000 pirate who caused a ruckus yesterday morning on Gamoa Island?"

Petro turned to Colphor.

"Yo, woodcaptain! We need to get out of here!" he said, "this place is full of marines!"

"Marines? These guys are marines?" Colphor asked, looking at Petro and then back at the man, "Souka! That explains a lot!"

"Getting out of here is not an option anymore," the man said.

Colphor turned to the bartender.

"Oi! Where's my sake? I'm thirsty!"

This caused the whole bar to fall over, the man not included.

"Oi, kid! Do you have any idea in how much trouble you are?" the man said, cracking his fingers.

"Sure do," Colphor said, still looking at the baffled bartender, waiting for his sake.

"Then I think you understand that you have no time to drink sake!" the man said, bringing down his fist, which had turned to gold, and knocked Colphor against the wall. The smack caused the wall to crack, some of those crack even ran 2 meters long. Colphor fell to the ground, as the whole bar looked at how Colphor would react. For a moment, everyone thought Colphor was finished, but he stood up again as if it hadn't hurt him at all, wiping some dust of his clothes again. He grabbed his cane from behind his back.

"Mister," Colphor began, "may I have your name?"

"I go by the name Tryan Dorbes, but most people call me "Golden Justice"," the man answered to Colphor's question.

"W-W-W-What?" Petro yelled out loud, "G-G-Golden Justice?"

He stumbled backwards.

"Colphor! We're doomed!"

Colphor ignored Petro's stammering.

"Dorbes," Colphor said, "you're starting to annoy me. I don't care when people want to train their strength on me, but you're destroying this great bar in the process!"

Colphor walked toward Dorbes.

"I don't know who you are and frankly, I don't care! However, I will tell you, if you're going to continue breaking down this bar, I will kick your ass," Colphor warned.

An awkward silence was the result. The people in the bar, most likely marines, were baffled by what Colphor had said. Dorbes didn't react instantly and was just staring down at Colphor with a thoughtful face.

"Kid," Dorbes eventually said, "why aren't you trying to escape?"

"Escape?" Colphor asked, "what for?"

"For me… for all the marines in this bar," Dorbes explained.

"_So I WAS right! This bar is filled with marines!" _Petro thought.

"Right now, I want to stay here for two reasons."

Dorbes' expression didn't change.

"Two reasons?"

"One: I still haven't had my sake. And two: to make sure you won't damage this bar any more than you already have."

"_This kid is completely oblivious to the fact that I want to capture him."_

"Kid… I think you don't understand why this bar is being damaged. As long as you're here, I won't stop trying to capture you."

"Capture me?" Colphor said surprised, "wait, you're trying to capture me?"

"_This kid… is really dense."_

"That's what marines do to pirates, kid," Dorbes said, somehow glad that this kid finally understood what was going on here. Colphor slammed his fist in the palm of his other hand.

"Souka! You're right! I totally forgot!"

"WHAAAAAT!" the whole bar cried out simultaneously.

"Since you've finally realized it, get ready for the Golden Fist of Justice."

Dorbes brought down his fist again quickly and swiftly, but Colphor avoided the hit and jumped on the counter. He jumped over it, grabbed a bottle of sake, jumped on the counter again, smacked some bellies on it and said:

"Let's go, Petro."

"YOU'RE ONLY NOW SAYING THAT!" Petro yelled, not believing how dense his captain was.

"There is no option of "going"," Dorbes said, "you should've realized that too."

"For you, yes," Colphor said, jumping down from the counter toward the door. Dorbes wanted to stop him, but for some reason, couldn't move his legs. One look showed him that the wooden floor had grown onto his legs. Colphor slipped past him and exited the bar, followed by Petro, leaving behind a bar with astonished marines.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" Colphor yelled.

"What are you sitting there for, you idiots?" Dorbes yelled at the marines, "catch those pirates!"

This seemed to bring life into the marines as they suddenly sprang up from their chairs and exited the bar in pursuit of the two pirates. He slammed on the wood that had grown on Dorbes' legs and shattered it in one hit.

"What a strange kid that was!" Dorbes commented while he looked at the bellies lying on the counter. It was more than the bottle of sake would have cost.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tybo and Falarda were also walking through the streets of Bernardoca City (the town on Vihan Island).

"Is he still following us?" Falarda asked, panting.  
"Yes," Tybo said, looking behind him.

"Wait! Stop right there!"

The two wanted to run away again when suddenly two marines came running toward the.

"C-Crap! Marines!" Falarda stuttered.

"OI! You boys! What are you standing there for!" one of the two yelled, "don't you know two pirates have slipped into town? They say it's "Wooden Cane" Colphor!"

Tybo turned to Falarda.

"Falarda! I think they think you're a marine! You still have your uniform on!"

"What are you whispering for?" the other marine yelled, halting right in front of the two.

"N-Nothing!" Falarda immediately answered, glad that he wasn't recognized as a pirate. One of the marines looked at Tybo.

"And why are you bothering him when you're not on duty!" he said, noticing how Tybo didn't have a uniform like Falarda.

"I am on duty! I just didn't want to put my uniform on!" Tybo explained, posing as a marine.

"Hmph… we'll talk about that later. Right now, we need all the people we have! Come with us!"

The four of them took off, furher into town. Cito, who had been peeking at them this whole time, stepped around the corner and scratched the back of his head.

"Didn't they say they were pirates?" he wondered out loud. He contemplated what he would do now, but decided to keep following them, albeit not as visible as before.

* * *

**Author's Note: *sniff* *sniff* I still don't own One Piece *sniff***

**Anyways, I liked writing this chapter. I had planned the scene where Colphor and Dorbes clash a little differently than how it was eventually written down, but I like the result even more. I'm still not sure how they're gonna free Mina, but I'm sure I'll come up with something when the time's there.  
**

**Heh, this chapter shows how dense Colphor is... I like that about him. I can do a lot with his character and I don't grow tired of writing him.  
**

**Also, I created the crewmembers with some sort of anime character creator (along with the future members that are still to appear). If you want the links to the pictures of them, mention it in a review or send me a PM.  
**

**Anyways, reviews and subscriptions are much appreciated. Constructive critique will be much appreciated and will be taken into account when writing the upcoming chapters.**

That said, I hope you have a nice day and till the next time ;)  



	8. Infiltrate The Police Station!

**Chapter 8: Infiltrate The Police Station! Cito Takes Action!**

"Why the heck is this place filled to the brim with marines!" Petro yelled, looking back over his shoulder. A horde of marines was chasing them, each one of them longing to capture them. Bullets flew over their heads, sometimes hitting Colphor, who was running behind Petro purposely to cover him for the bullets, acting as some sort of shield for Petro, who was more vulnerable for bullets. He was grinning.

"This is exciting!" he yelled.

Petro wanted to react angrily at Colphor's remark but decided not to, because he would just be wasting his breath. Colphor on the other hand, was doing very well… it was almost as if this running didn't tire him at all.

"How…" Petro said through his panting, "how can you be that energetic?"

"Huh?" Colphor said, confused.

"You're not fatigued at all," Petro explained.

"We just ate… I still have a lot energy left!" Colphor said.

"The last time we ate was ten hours ago!" Petro reminded his captain, annoyed by how he was this dense even in this situation.

Colphor thought about that for a few seconds.

"Really? Was it that long ago? I'm not hungry at all," Colphor thought out aloud.

Petro sighed.

"_That guy has incredible stamina! Where does he get all that power and endurance from? I'm gonna ask him about it if I survive this!" _Petro thought.

"Well, at least I'm glad that you decided to flee from that place," Petro said, "It's the first time you made a decision I agree with."

"Flee? I didn't flee!" Colphor yelled indignantly.

"You ran away from danger!" Petro said, "I call that fleeing."

"I didn't run away. I didn't like the people in that bar, so I left to search for Mina," Colphor explained.

"_So… if Mina had been alright, he would've fought Golden Justice! I can't believe how reckless he is!" _Petro thought.

Petro wanted to ask Colphor what to do know, but decided not to… how would an idiot like him know.

"_Let's see… our priority is to free Mina. We have no idea where she is right now, so that makes it very hard… we have no idea about what is where on this island. In other words, we're destined to run through this town until we can't move our legs anymore!"_

He looked at Colphor.

"_Well, it seems he's enjoying this."_

A couple of marines appeared on their path in front of them from around a corner, aiming their guns at the two pirates. The first salvo was fired and Petro could barely escape death by ducking to the ground!

"That was close!" Petro said, as he jumped up and looked around. There were marines behind them, marines in front of them and houses to their side.

"T-There's no way out!" Petro stammered.

"Yes, there is!" Colphor said, grabbing Petro's hand.

"Wait, why are you grabbing me? What are you going to do?" Petro yelled. Colphor headed for a window of one of the houses.

"W-Wait! You're not thinking of…"

His sentence was cut off by the shattering of glass. Colphor had jumped into the window. Bullets flew over their heads and into the wall of the house as they landed on the floor. A woman and two children stood in the same room with shocked expressions, looking at Colphor and Petro. Colphor reached for his pocket. The woman immediately shielded the two children, protecting them with her life for whatever would come out of the pirate's pocket. That seemed unnecessary, however, as the only thing that came out of Colphor's pocket was some money. He laid it on the table and said:  
"That's for the reparation for the window."

The woman looked up surprised.

"Yo, woodcaptain!" Petro said, already at the other side of the room, with the handle the backdoor in his hand, "hurry up!"

Several bullets flew into the house, destroying the interior. Right that very moment, Colphor's expression changed into anger. He turned around and walked towards the window through which they came.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Petro asked.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE!" Colphor yelled at the marines outside.

"_What's that moron doing now?" _Petro thought.

"What do you think civilians are, carelessly shooting into their houses!" Colphor yelled. This startled everyone in his presence. The marines stopped shooting and stared at the young pirate, standing just behind the shattered window.

"Colphor! Hey, Colphor! We need to get away!" Petro said.

Colphor turned his head around. A wicked expression had taken place for the usually happy-go-lucky expression that Colphor always had.

"Shut up!" he yelled at Petro, angrily… wickedly… unlike the Colphor Petro knew.

Petro was startled by Colphor's words and couldn't find anything to reply with. But that wasn't necessary. Colphor's expression changed back. Realizing what he had just said, he tried to apologize:  
"P-Petro… I… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"

"I don't care about that! We need to get out of here!"

Colphor nodded turned away from the window and ran out of the house through the backdoor with Petro. The marines were still standing there, baffled about what happened.

"Hey! What are you doing there! Where did that pirate go!" Dorbes' voice sounded through the air, breaking the silence.

"He went into that house and escaped through the back door," one of the marines answered.

"Why didn't you shoot him down?" Dorbes yelled.

"But there are civilians…!"

"Then you use your swords, you idiots!" Dorbes yelled.

"Y-Yes, sir!" the marine said nervously.

* * *

"Understood, sir!" the marine said, ending the call. He looked at Falarda, Tybo and his colleague, "the pirates are heading for the harbor! I think we'll be able to make it just before they arrive there!"

Falarda looked at Tybo. His expression was screaming "what do we do now?"

"I don't think they're heading for the harbor," Tybo said.

The two marines turned to Tybo.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard one of their crewmembers was caught. Wouldn't it be obvious that they're going to try to free her?" Tybo explained.

"What do you mean? That girl was part of their crew?" one of the two marines said, looking at the other.

Tybo grabbed a bounty poster out of his pocket and held it in front of the two marines.

"Here…"

"Hey, you're right! That's her, alright!" the other said.

"That means that we need to go to the police station! They're holding her there for interrogation!" the other said.

"Exactly!" Tybo said.

"Good thinking, buddy!" the second marine complimented, before taking off. The rest followed him.

"You're ingenious, Tybo!" Falarda whispered.

Tybo didn't pay attention to the compliment and instead looked into the sky and listened to the sounds around him. There was a turmoil going on north of them. Tybo assumed that was where either Petro or Colphor, most likely both of them, was. They were heading south right now, in the complete opposite direction of Petro and Colphor.

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach the police station. Despite what Tybo and Falarda had expected, the police station was quite small.

"What now?" Falarda asked Tybo, while the other two marines went into the police station to warn everyone there.

"They probably won't show us where Mina is, so we have to infiltrate the police station and search for her ourselves," Tybo thought out aloud.

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Falarda asked.

"You're a marine, so you won't stand out like I would."

"Wait, you aren't implying…"

Tybo continued, not paying attention to Falarda's words.

"We're going to go into the building too and you're going to say you want to go to the bathroom. That way, you'll be allowed further into the building. When you're gone, I'll cause a ruckus and throw the whole building in a chaotic state, so people won't pay too much attention to you."

"I refuse!" Falarda said, stretching out his hands as if he was keeping the plan away from him.

"You have to!" Tybo said, grabbing Falarda and dragging him into the police station.

* * *

"…yes, I understand," the lady behind the counter said, "and where are your two colleagues?"

The two marines who had been busy reporting at the counter what Tybo told them, looked around.

"Hey, Xavier! Have you seen them around?"

"Now you mention it, Herbert," the other said.

"Ah, there they are," Herbert said, pointing at the entrance.

The door opened and Tybo came in, dragging Falarda along with him.

"What's wrong with him?" Herbert immediately asked.

Tybo got an idea right that instant.

"He isn't feeling so right," Tybo answered, "can he go to the bathroom?"

The two marines immediately ran over to the two pirates worriedly.

"He looked alright just a moment ago," Xavier commented.

"This isn't the first time he has moments like this," Tybo lied.

"The bathroom is that way," the lady behind the counter said, pointing at one of the hallways.

Tybo nodded and dragged Falarda, now acting more like he was leaning on Tybo as if he wasn't feeling alright, along with him. As soon as they were around the first corner, Tybo and Falarda snapped out of their act. Falarda let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad we were able to infiltrate the building both…" Falarda began, "but why did you suddenly change plans!"

"We need to split as soon as we have the chance," Tybo said, ignoring Falarda, while he started to walk again.

"W-What!" Falarda exclaimed, catching up with Tybo."We can just search with the two of us, right?"

"If we split up, we have more of a chance to find Mina," Tybo explained.

Falarda was hesitating… Tybo was right… but… but… he didn't want to go alone! He'd be defenseless if something would happen!

"_I promise… I promise I'll become stronger!" _a memory flashed through his mind. He looked at Tybo and nodded.

"Alright, let's split up!" Falarda said bravely, "as soon as it's possible at least."

Tybo nodded. Together, they started running through the hallway. It took them one minute before they reached a T-crossing.

"Well then, I'll be going left!" Tybo decided immediately.

Falarda nodded. That meant he was going to go right!

* * *

From a distance, Cito was watching the police station. He'd picked up the conversation earlier between Xavier, Herbert, Tybo and Falarda. What was going on? The atmosphere was gradually changing. Chaos. That's the only way Cito could describe it. The feeling of safety he usually felt on this island full of marines was gone. Was this the work of that pirate? Or maybe it was just him. Maybe the atmosphere of a serious attack was that much different from a normal atmosphere. He shook his head to shake those thoughts away. More importantly, what should he do? This atmosphere was making him strangely exciting. He looked up when Xavier and Herbert exited the building, busy talking to each other.

"Where're those other two?" Cito wondered aloud. "Maybe they had other things to do inside the police station. But weren't they pirates? Does that mean they were infiltrating the police station? Or maybe they were marines posing as pirates."

Cito thought that possibility through, but threw it away.

"_One of them had a marine's uniform from the start," _Cito thought_, "No way would an undercover marine wear their uniform. So that meant they were pirates! What do they want in the police station? And why is one of them wearing a marine's uniform? Did they intend to infiltrate the police station from the very start?"_

He was getting more curious and curious with every passing second.

"_What should I do?" _he wondered.

He smiled.

"_Should I even ask?"_ was his next thought. He was far too curious to just go back to the other side of the island. He grabbed two pistols from under a sash that was tied around his middle and spun them around on his index fingers.

"_This might land me in a lot of trouble, but I have this strange feeling that something bigger is going on than a simple infiltration! Something mysterious! Something interesting!"_

He walked over to the police station, wondered for a moment which strategy to use for infiltration of the building, but decided to start the chaos at the entrance! He walked towards the doors and threw them open. The lady behind the counter stood up surprised.

"It's been some time, miss!" Cito said, grinning, "I'm sorry, but I really want to investigate this building!"

* * *

**Author's Note: One Piece is still not mine...**

**Whoo! It took a bit longer to write this chapter... I was a bit stuck multiple times and didn't know how to continue, but it eventually came out alright, though I feel like this chapter wasn't as good as the ones before here... also, there's barely any humor in this chapter :( Oh, well... enough action and character development...  
**

**Anyways, reviews and subscriptions and the like are much appreciated. A special thanks to Shadow90505 for reviewing my chapter per chapter!  
**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter and are looking forward to the next one! Have a nice day and till the next time! :D  
**


	9. Tybo vs Sureyuru

**Chapter 9: Tybo vs. Sureyuru!**

"It's been some time, miss!" Cito said, grinning, "I'm sorry, but I really want to investigate this building!"

"C-C-Cito?" the lady behind the counter said.

The moment her voice reached Cito's ears, he froze like a statue to the ground. He looked at the woman with eyes that were about to pop out.

"W-W-W-W-Why are YOU on duty…," Cito asked shocked, "…mom?"

"Cito! What are you barging into the police station for with guns in your hands!"

"Okay… this is… a really awkward situation," Cito said to himself.

His mother swiftly jumped over the counter and walked over to her son.

"I think you need to explain some things, Cito!" she said, while she tried to grab Cito. Cito managed to avoid capture and maneuvered around her. As soon as he was behind her, he started running into one of the corridors.

"Hey, you! Come here immediately!" his mother yelled, running after him.

"WHY DID IT HAVE TO TURN OUT LIKE THIIIIIIIS!" Cito yelled as he ran on.

* * *

Contrary to Tybo's belief that nobody knew of their plan yet, a few people were already accompanied by the knowledge that the police station was infiltrated. In the surveillance room, several people were looking at the numerous screens, displaying the corridors and rooms in the police station. One was standing, the rest were sitting on chairs right in front of a panel and the surveillance screens.

"So there are three intruders, "the man who was standing said, looking at the screens that showed the three intruders, "two with a clear motive," he looked at Tybo and Falarda, "and one with an unclear motive, " he turned his eyes to the screen showing Cito, "One is amusingly chased by his mother, which leaves two others yet unnoticed."

A thoughtful expression appeared on the man's face.

"Commander* Sureyuru! What are we gonna do?" one of the other police officers asked.

"I call a Code Red emergency," Sureyuru decided, "follows its procedure."

Sureyuru turned around and walked out of the room. He had barely left the room when Den Den Mushis everywhere in the building began announcing Code Red.

"Attention! Attention! This building is as of now in Code Red state! I repeat! This building is as of now in Code Red state! All civilians, please leave the building as soon as possible! We request that interrogators in the building hurry and leave the place with their prisoners! The Marines will be arriving shortly! As for the situation! We have a total of three intruders! One is right now being chased in sector 1D! The second is in sector 1F and the third is located at 1A!"

* * *

*(Keep in mind that this person called Sureyuru is not a Marine Commander, but a Police Commander, which is considerably lower in rank. Police is local, while Marines are international.)

* * *

Falarda was frozen to the ground. They knew where he was? He looked around nervously and spotted a Spy Mushi.

"Those things!" Falarda said.

"_How could we forget about those things?"_

Falarda started panicking. If they knew where he was, it would only take so long before he would be captured!

"What do I do now?" Falarda said out loud, grabbing his head with both his hands.

"Hey, I think I heard a voice there!" a voice around the corner of a crossing of a corridor sounded.

"Shimata!" Falarda cursed, while he turned around and began running in the direction he had come from.

"This is bad! This is bad!" Falarda said, looking back.

"Someone's running there!" he heard a marine saying as they appeared around the corner behind him.

"Craaaaap!" Falarda yelled, increasing his pace. He turned his head around again and saw that more marines had gathered behind him. In front of him appeared a crossing.

"_Left! The exit was at my left if I'm not mistaken!" _Falarda thought. But those thoughts were unnecessary. Just before he had reached the crossing, someone walked out of the corridor on the left. Falarda halted. He saw a big hammer about his size in the hands of the man.

"So you're one of the pirates causing a ruckus here, huh?" the man said, looking at Falarda, "quite deceiving, that marine costume."

"I AM a marine!" Falarda tried.

The man laughed.

"Hahahahaha! I'm sorry. Maybe if you tried that on the people behind you, they would've left you alone, but I have your bounty poster here!"

The man grabbed a bounty poster out of his pocket and let it fall down on the ground right in front of Falarda. Falarda did two steps back when he saw himself pictured on that poster with 5.000.000 right beneath his picture. The marines behind Falarda had halted and had their guns aimed at him now.

"We could do it the hard way or we could do it the easy way. I think I don't need to explain how both ways work, do I?" the man said.

Falarda thought for a moment and then gave up. Someone as weak as him would die the second he tried to do something! Falarda sighed and, while he stretched his arms forwards, he walked over to the man that blocked his path.

"Very good idea," the man said as he put shackles around Falarda's arms.

* * *

After hearing the announcement on the Den Den Mushis, Tybo had, just like Falarda frozen to the ground, so to say. He also realized that he hadn't thought of the Den Den Mushis throughout the building. But you couldn't blame him, right? He wasn't a strategist! He snapped out of that line of thought and went into another. If interrogators and the people they were interrogating were going to leave the building, than it was clear where he needed to go! Outside! Tybo turned around immediately and ran into the direction he came from. His path was already blocked by a police officer, however.

"And where do you think you're going, kid!" he said as he aimed his gun at Tybo.

Tybo immediately reached for his swords and unsheathed them in an instant. The police officer fired, but Tybo was already out of his line of fire. He'd jumped aside!

"Stand still!" the police officer yelled, aiming at Tybo again for another shot. Tybo didn't intend on just standing still, waiting for the man to shoot. He charged at him, zigzagging to make it harder for the man to aim and shoot accurately. Two slashes and the man fell backwards. Blood, coming from his wounded chest, spat around in the air.

"Don't take on people that are out of your league, kid!" Tybo said, landing behind the falling police officer. Tybo didn't pay any more attention to him and ran on.

"You're… the kid… here…!" the man managed to say before losing consciousness because of blood loss. Tybo, and with that Bartho too, never holds back when fighting and isn't afraid of lethally wounding his enemies, whoever they may be. He is different in that aspect from Colphor.

"Someone's lying on the ground!" a police officer yelled as he and a few others walked over to the unconscious body of their defeated colleague.

"Tegva!" the police officer yelled in surprise when he recognized the man. He knelt down and laid his hands on Tegva's body. He touched Tegva's wrist to ensure he was still alive. A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as his hopes were confirmed. Still alive! He rolled over his buddy's body. The wounds, X-shaped on his chest, were now clearly visible.

"W-Who did this to you!"

* * *

In the meantime, Tybo had his hands full with other police officers.

"Look out!" one of the police officers warned his colleagues, "he's dangerous!"

"You don't need to tell me that!" another, with a cut in his arm, yelled at him. He was ignored by the other police officer. Tybo was pretty much surrounded by police officers.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to be playing around here!" Tybo said as he prepared to charge through the line of defense in front of him.

"Leave him to me!" a voice from behind the line of defense said.

"Commander Sureyuru!" a police officer warned, "this kid is more dangerous than you think he'd be!"

Sureyuru looked at the police officer and smiled.

"Don't worry about me! If I can't defeat a child I'm not qualified to be a police commander!" he said.

Tybo lowered his swords and looked the man in the eyes.

"Don't label me as "just a child", dear sir," Tybo said, feeling a bit insulted by the commander's words.

"You're not "just a child"," Sureyuru stated, "you're a brat that likes to play pirate. I know another brat like you! You're getting on my nerves."

"What is it that you think you can gain from insulting me?" Tybo asked calmly. He sensed that this person wasn't like the other police officers. He might need to use his yontoryuu style a bit to defeat this man. Sureyuru drew his sword.

"_Just one sword, eh?" _Tybo thought, getting in a fighting position.

"Stand back," Sureyuru said to the other police officers.

Sureyuru and Tybo at the other at the same time. The sound of metal clashing sounded. Contrary to what Sureyuru had assumed, the kid in front of him possessed a lot more power than it would seem. Enough to stop his sword… with just one sword! Tybo still had his other hand free. He tried to stab Sureyuru, but his opponent wasn't stupid and had seen that coming. He jumped back and avoided the slash. Tybo took this chance and attacked with his other sword but it was nicely intercepted by Sureyuru. The two started lashing at each quicker and quicker, to the point where you needed to concentrate to keep following their moves. Tybo gained a cut in his arm, while Sureyuru got stabbed in his abdomen lightly, barely avoiding to let the sword go deep enough to hit his organs. After two minutes, the two jumped away from each other to catch their breath and recover a bit.  
"I told you," Tybo said, pointing one of his swords at Sureyuru, "that I'm no ordinary kid! I trained for four years so I could be called worthy of being a swordsman! I went through a lot to become this strong, all for one goal, for one friend! And until I have reached that goal and fulfilled my promise, I won't lose to anyone!"

Sureyuru panted.

"I think I might acknowledge your strength, but that won't be nearly enough to defeat me!" the commander stated.

"That I am aware of," Tybo replied, "you're not a commander just by title! You're one by force too! I've experienced that!"

Sureyuru grinned.

"Seems you realized. However hard you may have trained, defeating a police commander with those skills you have is nearly impossible!" Sureyuru said.

Tybo grinned too.

"Do you really think that all I obtained after four years was the skill I just showed you? I hate to break it to you, but the previous two minutes were the preliminaries, so to say," Tybo stated.

"Oh, how interesting! I'm ready for you!" Sureyuru said.

"Likewise!" Tybo said, charging at Sureyuru once again. Swords clashed again, cuts were made, but both were equally strong and there was not the slightest hint of either one of them winning or losing.

"Seems that going on like this is gonna take too much time!" Tybo said, lashing out at Sureyuru. Sureyuru blocked the attack and immediately counterattacked but only found Tybo's other sword.

"So, whatcha gonna do about it?" Sureyuru asked, while tried to cut Tybo's chest, only to find Tybo's second sword.

"You'll see!" Tybo said, grinning. He backed down, jumping back.

"Oh? Some special move?" Sureyuru asked.

"No," Tybo said, with a big grin, "another style!"

Sureyuru was taken aback by this. What did that kid mean?

"It took me one year to gain the skills I just used to fight you with and polished them over the other three years! But those other years were not spent just by polishing my skills!"

Tybo grabbed the two blades from under his clothes and tied them underneath his sandals.

"Those other three years, I learned to use yontoryuu!" he yelled.

"_Y-Yon… Yontoryuu! This kid knows how to use yontoryuu!"_ Sureyuru thought_, "What monstrous skills for his age!"_

Sureyuru pointed his sword at Tybo.

"Just show me how good you are at yontoryuu! A kid like you could never learn that style in merely three years!" Sureyuru said.

"Oh, I'm not done learning!" Tybo said, "it's not perfect at all! But enough to beat you!"

Sureyuru smiled.

"That's some rash statement you make there. Think you can make it come true!"

"I wouldn't have said it if I couldn't," Tybo replied.

"Come at me!" Sureyuru said.

Tybo charged and the fight proceeded into a new stage. Besides the swords in Tybo's hands, Sureyuru now also had to watch out for Tybo's feet. Sureyuru could barely keep up.

"_This kid… his skills are amazing! Needs a lot of polishing, but at his age, this is almost impossible! The way he uses the swords on his feet is weird though. It's like he is using a martial arts with his legs, rather than a sword style and that he uses the swords to simply increase his reach and strength, as well as the lethality of his attacks. This kid never ceases to interest me!"_

"What's wrong?" Tybo asked, trying a kick at Sureyuru's head. Sureyuru ducked and then jumped back to avoid another hit from one of the swords in Tybo's hands, "you seem a little out of it. Having a hard time?"

Sureyuru grinned.

"You surprise me. Is all," Sureyuru said.  
"It's been some time since I last heard those words!" Tybo said.

Suddenly, their fight and very manly conversation was interrupted by a yell down the corridor.

"Someone! Help me!"

"_That voice!"_ both Sureyuru and Tybo thought at the same time_, "Cito!"_

"Come here, Cito!" a woman's voice followed after that yell, "What's your reason for barging in here like that!"

"I'm sorry, mom!" Cito yelled. He looked in front of him and was too late to avoid crashing into the police officers that were standing in the corridor, watching Sureyuru and Tybo's fight. He penetrated the line of police officers and fell in front of the two swordsmen. Sureyuru's face was utterly surprised.

"C-Cito!" he said, "what in the… what are you doing here?"

Cito looked up surprised.

"D-D-D-Dad! What's going on here! Why am I so unlucky!" Cito yelled. Behind him his mother caught up to him, but halted surprised at the sight of her husband.

"Honey?" Cito's mother said surprised at the sight of her wounded husband, "what's going on here?"

"Ah, hello there, my dear," Sureyuru said, scratching the back of his head, "I'm trying to catch a pirate here."

Cito's mother's eyes looked at Tybo.

"That boy is a pirate?" she asked.

"Hello," Tybo said, waving at Cito's mother with a fake smile on his face and a confused glare.

"_What is this sudden awkward situation!" _Tybo thought.

"Ah, it's you!" Cito said, when he noticed Tybo, "Tabacco, was it, right?"

"Ano ne," Tybo said, facefaulting, "How's that even come close to "Tybo"?"

* * *

**Author's Note: It's unfortunate but I still don't own One Piece! Whatever... **

**Aaaaanyways, sorry for the wait... last week was holidays, so I took a week off from writing too... had a lot of fun watching Bleach and Fairy Tail (which are both awesome, btw). I initially intended to put Colphor and Petro in this chapter too, but it became too long so that might come next chapter or the one after that.  
**

**Y'know... after I wrote the explanation of how Tybo uses his legs more like a martial artist rather than a swordsman, I realized that Sanji is a bit the same, being a cook and using a martial arts that uses the legs... though Sanji doesn't use swords... oh, well, this coincidence wasn't intentional.  
**

**To answer Shadow4000's question about bullets and wood. Simply put, the bullets that hit Colphor either go straight through the wood (like how bullets go straight through Crocodile's sand for example), or get stuck in Colphor's wood, in which case Colphor pushes the bullet back out of his body before transforming back into flesh and bones again. I do have to note, though, that, unlike most Logia users, Colphor does feel pain from bullets and cuts that hit his wood, since wood is alive. It's not that painful though.  
**

**Anyways, reviews, subscriptions and whatever are much appreciated ^^  
**

**Also, almost forgot to ask, but is it annoying when I put Japanese words in my story sometimes, like "Shimata" and "kora" and things like that... Had to ask...  
**

**Anyways, enjoy and I hope you'll watch out for the next one! See ya!  
**


	10. New Nakama! Colphor vs Marines!

**Chapter 10: New Nakama! Colphor vs. Marines!**

It was silent. Awkwardly silent. There were too much thoughts in the air, racing through the minds of everyone present. The first to move and take action was Cito, surprisingly. With a quick movement, Cito grabbed both of his pistols out of the small pockets in his trousers and pointed one at his mother and the other at his father, in a desperate attempt to bring this situation under his control. Both of his parents were quite surprised by this move and weren't even thinking of doing something against their son, even though it was evident that something weird and different was going between the three family-members in comparison to your average family.

"Nobody move! I won't hesitate to shoot!" Cito yelled.

The police officers that were present were hesitating whether to take action or not, but Sureyuru lifted his hand as a sign to not move. Cito's priority was to get to know why Tybo had infiltrated the police station, how stupid that reason may sound. So the first thing he then said was directed at Tybo.

"Why are you here?" Cito asked the pirate, while he shifted the aim of his second pistol from Sureyuru to Tybo.

Tybo thought about his answer for a total of 5 seconds before it left his mouth.

"I do not wish to tell you about that here, with this many people around."

Cito was thinking at a fast pace. Tybo wasn't going to tell him anything as long as there were people around. The obvious way to solve this problem is to move everyone somewhere else. But Cito was pretty certain that these people around him wouldn't be that cooperative, so the other obvious solution was to move themselves. Cito quickly put one of his flintlocks back in his right pocket, grabbed Tybo and made a run for it, dragging Tybo along with him. They broke through the line of police officers that had blocked them from the corridor leading to the lobby (and to freedom). It had all happened far too fast for the police officers to react.

"Stop, wait, wait!" Tybo yelled.

"We have no time to stop!" Cito replied to that.

"I still have two blades under my feet," Tybo said.

"Who cares if you ruin the floor!" Cito said, thinking that Tybo was worrying about that.

Tybo scolded at the stupid Cito in his mind.

"That's not what I mean! I can barely run like this if you drag me along like this. Let my hand go!"

"Oh, yeah," Cito said, "that's right."

He released his grip on Tybo's hand and Tybo was finally able to walk at his own pace. It is obvious that Tybo could be incredibly fast, even with the blades tied under his feet, or he couldn't call himself an advanced yontoryuu swordsmen. But that was for short distances, not for distances of Olympic size. That's why, while running, he untied the two blades from under his sandals, which could be called an amazing feat of itself. After finally being able to run on his own two feet, Tybo accelerated and caught up with Cito in no time. Cito seemed to be quite the runner, though. He was a quick one. As he realized that, the two of them ran into the lobby, surprising a few marines who had just arrived to assist. Before they could give any kind of reaction or say something in surprise, the two boys had left through the door. A few seconds later, everyone else that had chased after the two rascals, ran into the lobby and also through the front door. The marines that had previously stood there so peacefully were left alone once more, though they had been given some confusion in those past few seconds. One scratched the back of his head while he slowly walked over to the front door and looked through the dooropening (the door had improperly been left open by the police officers! How rude!)

"What... was that just now?" the marine asked.

"Were those kids the pirates?" the another one wondered.

"I think those police officers messed up their report and accidentally told us there were pirates. Those were just kids. Let's go back and report this failure."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cito and Tybo had been able to shake off their pursuers. They were now panting in a small, narrow alley.

"Can you tell me why you went into that police station now?" Cito asked again.

Tybo shook his head.

"No, but thanks for saving me. I need to go back now."

"Everyone's gone... you can tell me now, right?" Cito explained.

"You're still here," Tybo said, "I don't intend to tell anyone who doesn't have anything to do with it. I need to go back."

Tybo turned around to walk away.

"You're not going anywhere," Cito said, pointing one of his guns at Tybo. Tybo stopped and turned around.

"You can shoot me, but you won't hit me," Tybo claimed.

Cito was taken back by this.

"How... how do you know of my terrible aim!" he yelled in surprise.

This confused Tybo.

"What... what do you mean? I'm just saying that before that bullet hits me, I'd deflect it with my swords. 's All."

Cito's face blanked. His mouth was slightly twitching.

"Ah..."

Tybo teasingly smiled at Cito.

"I think you gave away some delicate information there," he said teasingly.

Cito blushed.

"Why are you wielding pistols when you can't do anything with them?"

Cito was searching for words to counter Tybo with, but wasn't able to find any.

"SHUT UP! You didn't hear that!" he eventually yelled like a little kid.

Tybo started laughing out loud because of Cito's desperate attempts to impress Tybo. Tybo slowly stopped laughing.

"I think the captain would love you," Tybo said, certain of the truth in his words, "y'know what, I'll give you a proposal you just can't refuse."

Tybo waited a few seconds before he started talking again. Cito was waiting impatiently for Tybo to continue.

"Join our crew," Tybo proposed. He stuck out his hand, "you're a good guy with a desire for adventure, just like the rest of us. What do you think?"

Cito was perplexed by what Tybo had proposed. He had always longed for adventure... to sail the seas with a crew, doing whatever they wanted. Not bound by any rules. His parents always wanted him to sail the seas. But not as a pirate. They wanted him to become a fine marine, like most of the people here eventually became. But Cito didn't want a life as a marine. You'd be bound by rules and when you died, no-one would remember you after a few years (aside from maybe some friends and family). Pirates became famous. Everyone remembers the names of famous pirates like Gold D. Roger, Monkey D. Luffy, Red Hair Shanks, Whitebeard and Blackbeard. He had left his parents because of this at a young age and now lived at a little shack at the other side of the island, together with some other kids, younger than him, that he commanded. They stole the food they needed and slept without beds and sheets, but he'd always been happy with that life. And now a real pirate said he could join their crew. What else could Cito answer then...

"YES!" he said loudly and enthusiastically, jumping up from happiness. He calmed down a little and asked:

"You mean it, right?" Cito asked for confirmation.

"Once you shake my hand, it's official," Tybo said with a big smile on his face. He never thought he'd love these kind of moments this much. Cito eagerly took Tybo's hand. Cito calmed down.

"So, uhm... what were you doing in the police station?" Tybo asked.

This time, Tybo answered.

"Mina, one of our nakama, has been captured by the marines, so we tried to free her."

Cito was speechless for a moment.

"But," he started, "what were you doing at the police station, then?"

Tybo didn't understand that question.

"I told you, didn't I? To free Mina!"

"But Cito was captured by marines, right? Wouldn't she be at the Marine Base on this island? The police station only handles local things," Cito explained.

Tybo couldn't answer. Cito was totally right.

"But then... why didn't those two marines say anything when I proposed that plan?" he wondered.

"Three, you mean."

"No, one of them was Falarda. He's also one of our crew and..."

He stopped talking and just realized that Falarda was still in that building. His shocked expression told Cito that something had gone terribly wrong.

"We need to go back immediately! Falarda is still in the police station. He doesn't stand a chance!" Tybo yelled, while he wanted to turn around. Cito wouldn't let him, however.

"Stop! Calm down!" he yelled, almost as if he was commanding someone of a lower rank. Tybo halted immediately and turned around. He looked impatient.

"What is it?" he asked, yelling.

"We need to go back to the ship," Cito said.

"What! Are you intending to run away! Maybe I..."

"No, I'm not running away! I have a plan!"

"What plan?" Tybo asked.

* * *

We go back in time a little and follow Petro and Colphor's movements. After exiting the house through the back door, the two kept running through the small streets of Bernardoca City. But wherever they went, the place was always filled with marines. Petro started to get fatigued and Colphor had also slowed somewhat down since the beginning of their "marathon" through the city.

"Petro," Colphor suddenly said to his partner, "we're gonna change plans."

"You make it sound like running away was a plan," Petro replied sarcastically, "but that aside, a plan would be great."

"We're gonna fight," Colphor said. Petro waited for more, but Colphor seemed to be done explaining his plan, stopped running and turned around to face the marines that were following the two pirates.

"Wait, that's the whole plan? Fight? Against this much? Have you become suicidal!" Petro said surprised.

The marines had stopped and were now all firmly holding their swords in front of them, ready to strike. Colphor calmly grabbed the cane behind this back and started leaning on it, while he answered hard enough for everyone, including the marines, to hear it:  
"Suicide? Wouldn't that be going into a situation where you're one hundred percent sure to not get out alive of? I'm hundred percent sure I'll get out of this unscathed, so there's no need to worry."

"Unscathed? You're delusional! Beating this many marines is crazy?"

A marine added mockingly:  
"Listen to your wise partner. Unscathed? I can't see that happening, kid. All you have is a cane and a partner. We have guns, swords and are with many. Give up already, kid."

Colphor looked the marine calmly in his eyes and said with a voice that was full of confidence:  
"I never give up. Also, this cane will be more than enough to beat all of you."

The marines started laughing.

"You're entertaining," the same marine as before, said. He stepped forward and steadily walked towards Colphor, who did not make any movements. Colphor seemed to be waiting for the marine. The marine continued mocking Colphor.

"Let me teach you how to talk truthfully. What, you're not moving? Are you caught in fear so much that you can't move? How pitiful!"

The marine laughed. He covered the last few meters and was nearly standing in front of Colphor.

"You're pirate with a bounty, right? That means that I'll have to thank you for giving me your bounty!"

Colphor didn't move. He just stared into the eyes of the marine as that person lifted his sword over his head.

"Goodbye!"

The sword came down, entered Colphor's body at his right shoulder and went all the way until it exited Colphor's body at Colphor's left thigh. It was a clean cut that had divided Colphor in two pieces. But something was strange. There was no blood. No screaming. No falling backwards. Colphor's body also didn't seem to fall apart. It was rather surprising for the marine when the two pieces of Colphor's body, merged into a healthy body again.

"W-What is..."

"Now it's my turn," Colphor said, shocking the whole crowd. Colphor let out a battlecry as he punched the marine in his stomach (the marine's head was too high for Colphor to reach). There was one second where nothing happened. Then a hoarse sound coming out of the marine's mouth. The marine was then sent flying. And not just a few centimeters! He shot back as if he got shot of a cannon. He knocked over numerous marines that were in his way as he flew through the street. There was a loud "BOOM!" as the marine flew into a house's wall, cracking it so much, some parts of the wall were crumbling. Everyone was dumbstruck by this sudden, unexpected turn of events. Mouths had fallen open from complete bewilderment. Some marines were backing away from Colphor, struck with fear. Others were clenching onto their swords very tightly, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Did you just see that?" one marine asked, not really to anyone in particular.

"He just... sent Mejanos flying over a distance of thirty meters!" another one said, not believing in the words he just said himself.

"Don't falter, men!" someone suddenly said, "he may be strong, but we're with more! If we attack him from behind and front, he won't be able to stand that long!"

This gave some marines enough courage to forget their fears and verbally agree with those words just uttered.

"Attack!" the same marine yelled. At that command, half of the marines attacked the two pirates. Colphor's face showed a smug smile.

"Petro," he said, "you take the one behind me. I'll trust that no-one'll get the chance to attack me in my back."

Petro nodded.

"Yes. Nothing like that will happen," he said, as he realized that the fearsome powers he'd just seen were from a friend and not a foe. Those last few seconds before the marines reached the pirates had the air filled with battlecries and swords clanging against each other. Colphor lifted the arm with the cane in it and pointed it in front of him.

"**Targeting Branches**!" he said. In an instant, the cane grew a huge amount of branches that caught most of the marines immediately so they could get nowhere.

"I... can't breathe!" one of the marines caught in the branches said, "it's pushing the air out of my lungs!"

The ones left in front of him bravely continued to run at Colphor, already feeling that they couldn't find this fight. One jumped at Colphor and tried to cut him, but Colphor stepped aside and the man flew right past Colphor. The marine immediately crawled up again and tried to attack Colphor in his back, but that didn't go so smoothly. He jumped at Colphor again, but found Colphor's backwards kick in mid-air and was sent flying into a wall closeby. The other marines left experienced a same treatment. By the time the last one was sent flying, the marines caught in the branches had all passed out from a lack of oxygen and Colphor retracted all the branches until none was left. Just then, a familiar voice sounded:

"What a useless bunch!"

Through the dust that had developed itself during the fight, a man strode forward.

"It seems you're tougher than you look like," the man said.

The man came out of the dust flying through the air and was now visible to Colphor.

"Want to see if you can handle this marine?" Dorbes asked, "I'd like to give you a taste of my Golden Justice!"

* * *

**Author's Note: Whoohoo! I've finally got this done! Sorry it took so long, but I haven't given up on this story at all! Expect me to write for this story a lot more for a long time! **

**Also, the setting of this story was not made up by me, but by the guy that made One Piece... Colphor, Cito, Tybo and the rest of the crew is completely thought up by me, and no-one other than me!  
**

**Please read, enjoy and maybe you could give me a review... that would make me happy! A simple "great", "awesome" or "pretty good" would suffice. If you don't like it, please let me know why and I might be able to change it a bit tto your tastes...  
**


	11. Dorbes vs Colphor! Meet Ushiro Kazuki!

**Chapter 11: Dorbes vs. Colphor. Introducing Ushiro Kazuki**

After Dorbes spoke those words all the sound that remained was the wind and the groans of awakening marines that were carried on the wind into the ears of the strong warriors Colphor and Dorbes, who were still standing. The dust had flown up high in the air and made visibility a little lower then usual. Whether that would be an advantage, a disadvantage or not make any difference would be eventually revealed by time. Dorbes broke the silence.

"Kid... you're making me a little curious," he said.

Colphor made a face that made clear that he didn't understand how a high-ranking officer like Dorbes could be interested in him. Colphor didn't answer and let Dorbes continue.

"I have three questions for you," he started, "One, why are you here. Two, why do you have such a high bounty. Three, how did you get that ability."

There was a silence again. Colphor looked troubled. He scratched the back of his head and let his hand then travel further to his back while he shrugged and said:  
"I don't have time for stories like that. I need to free Mina!"

One of Dorbes' questions had been answered, though he still didn't know exactly who Mina was. He knew that, without a thorough investigation from the boy, while in handcuffs, of course, he wouldn't get the answers on those other questions.

"Very well," Dorbes said, "then allow me to ask you one last question."

Colphor made some impatient noises, but kept quite and waited for the question.

"What does justice mean to you?"

Colphor blinked a few time to find his answer. That answer came pretty quick.

"Who cares about justice?"

Dorbes lifted one eyebrow and said:

"That's a weird answer. Justice is the most important thing in this world, brat. Of course everyone cares about justice!"

"Well," Colphor answered, "I don't. I do what I want to do. I have fun, sail the seas, have a lot of adventures, gather nakama and protect them when needed! And that last thing is what I am now doing!"

Dorbes growled for a moment.

"So you're just a barbaric creature that only dirties this world," Dorbes decided. Dorbes' whole body changed to gold and he charged at Colphor. Colphor didn't have the slightest intention to take the smallest step away from his original place. Some marines that were still conscious witnessed how Dorbes' fist hit Colphor's head. Instead of a huge impact, the wooden head of Colphor gave away pretty easily and Dorbes' whole arm went through a hole in Colphor's head. Before Dorbes could pull his arm back, wood started growing all over Dorbes' arm. Dorbes turned back to normal and immediately after that, the wood around Dorbes' all shattered to pieces. Dorbes retreated and immediately made some distance between Colphor and himself. He witnessed with his own eyes how Colphor's head first changed back to normal and then into flesh and bones.

"_He's no ordinary kid!"_

"It doesn't seem like you can do much with that ability," Colphor said. Those words struck Dorbes.

"_He already saw through that?"_

Dorbes regained his composure after being startled for a moment and smiled.

"You're smarter than you seem to be on first sight. Yes, aside from eternal wealth and some moves, this ability doesn't give me much strength. Not all Devil's Fruits are actually useful. Some, like mine, are actually pretty useless. But I haven't earned my title because of my Devil's Fruit ability. My real strength are my muscles."

As a demonstration, Dorbes laid his hand against a house's wall, like any normal man would do. One with good eyes would've noticed that Dorbes' arm expanded a little bit and in an instant the whole wall crumbled and scattered into pieces. Colphor couldn't help but watch in awe as the pieces of rubble fell down to the earth. He regained his composure and said:  
"That's not nice to do! That house is inhabited!"

Dorbes facepalmed.

"That's not the thing you should be worrying about right now!" Dorbes yelled at Colphor.

"All I see is that you like to destroy your own town," Colphor said, "first that café and now the town's houses. You're a poor excuse for a marine!"

That really pissed Dorbes off.

"Shut your mouth! I don't want to hear that from a kid that calls himself a pirate!" Dorbes yelled.

"But I AM a pirate!" Colphor said, like he was stating the obvious.

Dorbes grumbled.

"I'm getting worked up over a twelve year old kid. I don't have my day. It's time to put an end to this all. **Shining Lance**!"

Dorbes' right arm changed into a shining, gold lance and with that, he charged at Colphor. Colphor smiled and this time, he DID move. He also started running at Dorbes. Once again, they collided. The moves they then made went by in a few seconds, so we'll slow it down a little. But before that, I'll explain why Dorbes is so strong, since Dorbes himself didn't bother explaining himself to people like you, reading these words behind your computer or laptopscreens. He can somewhat manipulate his own muscles and can expand them at his own will. He's been able to do that since birth and has trained this ability he was blessed with to the extreme. Seeing as he was born with this ability, Dorbes believes that people are either born strong or weak and that someone that's been born a weakling can never defeat someone who's born as a strong human... like Colphor.

"Disappear!" Dorbes yelled as the two clashed. Dorbes' lance hit Colphor's left hand and splintered it immediately. Colphor's next movement was to get behind Dorbes and hit the back of Dorbes' head with his wooden leg that was so dense that it was as hard as stone. Dorbes had seen a move from behind coming and had changed his whole body into gold again. A small shockwave spread out from the epicenter when gold and wood connected and knocked the little group of marines that were still left of their feet. Dorbes turned around and tried to grab the little boy's leg, but Colphor was gone.

"W-what!"

Just then, Dorbes saw Colphor running away.

"Coward! Come here!" the marine yelled as he started to pursue him.

"I'm not a coward!" Colphor yelled back, "I don't have time to waste by fighting you! **Vine Wall**!"

At Colphor's command, vines rose from the ground, breaking the streetstones into a thousand pieces while they were rising up. Of course, Dorbes shattered the vines until there was nothing left of them, but by then, Colphor was already gone.

"Where did he disappear to!" Dorbes asked one of his subordinates.

"I... I don't know. I was thrown onto the ground!"

Dorbes looked around, but the faces of the other few still conscious marines told him that they didn't know where he was.

"Shimata!" Colphor exclaimed.

While Colphor ran for it, two eyes watched him from the shadows and a smile appeared underneath those two eyes.

"You've got my interest now, Cane Kid!"

* * *

Colphor looked around the corner of a narrow, small alley. He was happy to conclude that no-one'd seen him.

"Well, Petro, what do we do now?" Colphor asked.

There was no answer. Only then did he realize that Petro was not with him.

"Hey, Petro! Where are you?" Colphor asked to no avail. Petro was gone. Colphor scratched the back of his head while thinking what to do now. Colphor might be a little looney, but he was still smart enough to conclude that going to the place where they last saw each other was the best place to go now, since he lost everyone. He didn't like the idea of searching for Petro again, who was also somewhere in this town. He'd get the attention of the marines again, when he just lost them. Colphor turned around... and stared right into the face of a marine.

"Uhm... sorry, sir. I'm sorry, but can I ask you a question."

A normal human would've already been cautious after this question. First of all, why would anyone call a 13 year-old kid "sir"? Secondly every marine on this island was looking for him. This marine was either blind or didn't know what was going on at all. This marine was not trying to catch him, thus, Colphor did not consider this guy a threath.

"Of course," Colphor said with a smile, "what is it?"

The marine started his question:

"We're searching for a pirate around this town. Can I ask you if you have seen one?"

Colphor blinked for a moment, to let these words get through to him. Did that marine ask him if he had seen a pirate? Even Colphor started to feel that something was weird here.

"I'm a pirate," Colphor honestly said, pointing at his own chest.

The marine facefaulted and then facepalmed.

"I don't mean you," the marine said, "we're looking for someone else!"

"Oh, you're looking for Petro?" Colphor said, thinking that he finally understood all this, "I don't know where he is exactly, but he ought to be somewhere around here. But you should watch out. Petro is really strong."

The marine became overjoyed and stepped right in front of Colphor while his hands grabbed his two shoulders.

"Really? You mean that? Thank you for the information!"

"No problem... but could you please not stand on my toes? It feels a little weird!"

The marine looked down and saw that he was indeed standing on Colphor's toes.

"Ah... sorry," the marine quickly said, while he did one step backward. He then ran away into the opposite direction of where Colphor said Petro was. Colphor was silent after this awkward moment, shrugged and took off into the direction of his ship. As he left, someone watched him leave the alley. He took a Baby Den Den Mushi out of a holder on his belt.

"Guys. Mission complete. If we succeed, we'll be world-famous! I just have a feeling this is gonna bring us loads of money!"

* * *

While Colphor, Tybo, Petro and Cito are having adventures on Iuda Island, Bartho also had some action today. Yesterday, Bartho didn't really have much time to watch the ship leave, as there had still been some bounty hunters left who wanted to take him on. They were quickly beaten and Bartho decided that he would leave the Zehim Bounty Hunters' Headquarters and its vicinity for now. It didn't take long to shake off the last two bounty hunters that had still been left. He started thinking about what to do next. He didn't have anything, but a few berries, enough to feed himself for one more day, although barely. He didn't have anywhere to sleep either, something he really wanted to do! He decided that he would look for a nice, dark, alley to sleep there, so he wouldn't be disturbed and found one in no time. He found a pillow with several holes in it, most likely discarded by it's last owner because it was too torn apart to sleep on. Maybe its last owner couldn't fall asleep on that pillow, but Bartho fell asleep on it in an instant.

* * *

The next morning he woke up... in a bed. Bartho sat upright in bed and looked around. It wasn't a big room. There was one bed, a closet, a Baby Den Den Mushi that was chained to the wall, so no-one could take it and that was about it. There were some noises from the bathroom and a door opened. A boy just a little bit older than himself stepped inside with a toothbrush between his teeth.

"Ah... You'w awwake," the boy said, his toothbrush transforming his words in some sort of weird language. Bartho was able to understand him though. The boy took the toothbrush out of his mouth, went back into the bathroom and Bartho heard the boy spitting the toothpaste out of his mouth into the sink. He heard the boy turning on the watertap to rinse the inside of his mouth. Some footsteps and then the boy appeared in Bartho's sight again, without toothbrush.

"I saw you sleeping in that alley and I just couldn't let a young kid like you sleep there in the cold. So I took you to my hotel-room. What were you doing there, sleeping on a torn pillow?"

"Why should I tell you about that?"

"Alright, alright," the boy said, "I won't ask anymore about that. At least tell me where your parents live. I'll take you home. I don't need to know what happened."

"_I think this boy is getting a completely wrong picture of me and why I spent the night in that alley."_

"I don't have any parents anymore. Besides, you're getting the wrong picture. I'm not a runaway kid. I'm a pirate."

"You're a pirate?" the boy said surprised.

"Yes, that's what I said. I'm Bartho. Polkinchi Bartho."

"Ah... sorry, for not introducing myself," the boy said, "my name is Kazuki. Ushiro Kazuki."


	12. Axe Nightmare! Zehim Danny Shows Up!

**Chapter 12: Axe Nightmare Yuichi! Zehim Danny Shows Up!**

"Ah, sorry for not introducing myself," the boy said, "my name is Kazuki. Ushiro Kazuki."

Kazuki looked at Bartho another time and seemed to be studying him for a moment.

"But... maaaaan... you're really young for a pirate!"

"I can't deny that," Bartho replied.

"Hmm... Y'know, I am also looking for a pirate crew I can join. I come from Adini Island. I left just a while ago to start my search and adventures."

Bartho knew Adini Island. It was small and most of the people there were poor, compared to the other islands. Crime was higher around there, but so was security. Adini Island had a violent history and was one of the first islands in all of East Blue to get a marine base and prison. This was around the time of the first pirate era, started after Gol D. Roger's death.  
"I see," Bartho said, feeling that Kazuki was indirectly asking whether he could join their pirate crew. He barely knew Kazuki yet. He wasn't going to ask an almost complete stranger to join their crew.

"So... what's your schedule for today?"

Bartho wanted to check on the Zehim Bounty Hunters first, but he didn't want to tell Kazuki that. What if Kazuki was member of the bounty hunters himself.  
"I'm gonna eat something first. I'm hungry."

"Oh, I know a great bar around here! I'll take you there!" Kazuki suggested.

A rather laughable situation had arosen. Bartho wanted to get rid of this curious boy that was trying to let Bartho know that he wanted to join their crew. Kazuki had already seen through Bartho's intentions of getting rid of him, but didn't want to give in and let this chance go by.

"No, I'll find something myself," Bartho said, "but thanks for proposing it."

Bartho stood up and walked straight for the door, but Kazuki didn't want to have it end like this. He walked up to Bartho and laid his arm on Bartho's shoulders, like good friends would do.

"Oh, don't be shy. I'll pay!" Kazuki said as he walked out of the door with Bartho like that.

* * *

And that's how Bartho ended up in the bar "Place Of Peace" that morning with Kazuki. Bartho and Kazuki could not know that the two were in the same bar Petro and Colphor had been the previous day. It was not very crowded. There were around ten people in the bar. After all, it was still early in the morning. Kazuki walked straight toward the counter and sat down on one of the stools that stood there. Bartho took place beside him. The fact Kazuki would pay for him convinced him to accompany him. After all, he was really low on money at the moment. The barman, and also the owner of this place, walked over to them.

"Ah, Kazuki, are you there again. Who's your comrade? Haven't seen him before."

Kazuki replied before Bartho could answer.

"This is Bartho. He's a pirate!"

The barman smiled.

"A pirate, eh?" the barman said, "you're a young one. There was another young pirate like you yesterday. Nice lad he was."

There was a second of silence.

"What crew are you in?" the barman asked.

"Wooden Cane Pirates," Bartho answered, not particularly interested in the conversation.

The barman, who was cleaning a cup, stopped that activity and stared at Bartho.

"Then you're in the crew of Menardy Colphor," the barman said, "that kid was here yesterday!"

Bartho looked up.

"Oh, so you met Colphor? Yes, he is our captain."

The barman turned to Kazuki.

"So you joined their crew! You can trust me, you chose the right guys to join! That Colphor is an awesome guy!"

Kazuki laughed sheepishly.

"Ah... I haven't joined them yet," Kazuki said.

"Yet?" Bartho said, glaring at Kazuki.

The barman, Espro, wanted to reply, but the door was smashed open and a big man walked in, with a whole group of rough men, like himself, in tow. The people in the bar were startled, stood up and left in a hurry. It had taken only a few seconds, but the whole bar was now filled with, what Bartho assumed to be, mountain bandits. The one that had walked in first and most likely the leader of the group, walked over to the counter.

"Ha! Espro, old friend! How are you doing?"

Espro grumbled and said:

"My old scar has started aching again as soon as your face came into my sight."

The mountain bandit had reached the counter, took place next to Kazuki and laughed in reaction to the words Espro had spoken.

"You always know how to make a good joke," the mountain bandit stated.

"Leave this place alone, Yuichi! You're scaring away my customers."

"We'll leave this place pretty soon. But we expect you to give us everything we want for free! Our business hasn't been going very well lately. I hope you'll understand."

"You're not getting anything for free, Yuichi!" Espro replied steadfastly.

Yuichi wasn't happy with that answer and grabbed Espro at his collar and lifted the barman up so Yuichi could look directly into Espro's eyes.

"When I say we're taking anything we want for free, that is not a suggestion but a fact! Either that. You'll give us what we want or we'll take this place down. Do you want us to do that?"

By this time, Bartho was certain that these people were all mountain bandits. In this era, bandits were one of the three biggest criminals, the other two being the mafia and pirates. Unlike fifty years ago, bandits were much more organised and most groups were just part of a much larger bandit-organisation that usually spread over multiple islands.

"Oi," someone said, just next from the two men. It was Kazuki, glaring dangerously at the mountain bandit. He was sitting relaxed, leaning with two elbows on the counter, "If you want to order something, wait for your turn. I was here first!"

"Huh?" Yuichi said contemptuously, looking at the "fly" that was now talking to him. He let go of Espro and looked down at Kazuki as if he was looking at a small piece of trash.

"Are you sure you're saying that to me?" Yuichi asked, trying to intimidate Kazuki. Kazuki was not intimidated in the least and said:

"Yes. Who else do you think I'm talking to? Are you stupid?"

Everyone's mouth fell open from astonishment.

"Kazuki!" Espro said, startled by Kazuki's brutality.

"Kid! Do you know who you're talking to? I'm Juano "Axe Nightmare" Yuichi! My head's worth five million berries! I've killed 89 people in my life. I'll give you one chance to take those words back or I'll make you my 90th!"

"I'm not taking my words back! I don't see how anything you just told me should matter at all!"

This seemed to anger Yuichi even more.

"You ignorant brat! I'll show you how that matters!"

Yuichi grabbed a giant axe from behind his back and brought it down on Kazuki.

"Soru!"

All the axe hit was the barstool Kazuki had been sitting on just a second ago. Bartho was still sitting on his own stool, not bothered by the ruckus Kazuki had caused, acting as if nothing was happening at all.

"I'm not impressed," Kazuki's voice came from behind Yuichi. Yuichi swung his axe behind his back, but Kazuki was gone long before the axe could hit him. Kazuki stood in the middle of the bar. Yuichi gritted his teeth when he saw Kazuki unharmed in front of him.

"Heh... it seems you're a hard one. But your friend is a perfect target for me!"

Kazuki's expression changed from a triumphant to one of shock.

"_Crap! Bartho's in his reach! I won't be in time!"_

"Die!" Yuichi yelled as he let his axe come down on Bartho. Everything happened very quickly and it was over in a blink. Bartho grabbed his two swords, unsheathed them, jumped away from his seat, cut two times and landed behind Yuichi before the mountain bandit knew what was going on. Yuichi seemed to have frozen for a second. Then, suddenly, Yuichi's axe handle split in two and blood spat out of Yuichi's left shoulder. He let out a scream from the pain. The axe fell out of his hands as he moved both of his hands to cover his own wound in reflex, trying to keep the blood from gushing out of the large cut, that ran from his chest up to his shoulder.

"You bastard!" Yuichi said, trying to surpress the pain.

"Whoa..." Kazuki said, "you're stronger than I thought!"

"I didn't think you were that fast either," Bartho said, standing up, since he landed in a hunched position.  
"Does that mean I can join your crew?" Kazuki asked.

"No," was Bartho's immediate answer.

"OI! Don't ignore me!" Yuichi yelled, "Get them, guys!" he yelled at his subordinates. Yuichi's subordinates stood up, swords and pistols ready for use!

"Think you can survive this?" Kazuki asked Bartho teasingly.

"Piece of cake for me," Bartho answered smiling, "You should worry about yourself more."

"Oh, I'll be fine."

A man came up behind Kazuki and tried to strike Kazuki, but he had disappeared, using Soru, appearing behind him and striking him down, by pushing the man's head into the floor with his leg. All the man saw was a red flash from the red jacket Kazuki was wearing. He had beaten one... a lot more to go. He decided to pull out his weapon. He reached behind his back and grabbed two metal staffs, which he connected to each other, making it one large, metal staff. As men were approaching him from all sides, Kazuki said:

"Falco Drift Technique: Crazy Twister."

The next moment, it seemed like a red tornado was raging through the bar, throwing mountain bandits through the air, sending them into walls, tables and the counter. Using the metal staff to increase reach, not a single mountain bandit could even reach Kazuki. After several seconds, the tornado stopped and Kazuki stood in the middle of unconscious men and broken wood from the tables and chairs. Kazuki looked over his shoulder to see Bartho cut yet another of the mountain bandits. The man gave a yell before falling to the ground. Kazuki was about to make another remark about Bartho's fighting skills, when the door suddenly opened and several men stormed into the bar. Bartho recognized one of them: Zehim Danny!

As soon as the mountain bandits saw the bounty hunters, their attitude changed. While they were confident of their victory against Kazuki and Bartho, a fight with bounty hunters would certainly be their downfall. The ones who could, escaped through the windows, while others tried to find a hiding place. Soon, the only persons in view where Kazuki, Bartho, Espro behind the counter, the bounty hunters and the unconscious or hurting people who couldn't walk anymore, for whatever reason.

"I heard that a group of mountain bandits with Axe Nightmare Yuichi were here, so I came to check and see if I could get a bounty or two, but it seems you've already done the job for us."

"You can take anyone you want, but Yuichi's bounty is mine!" Kazuki said.

That surprised everyone in the bar. Zehim Danny started laughing.

"Yours? Don't make me laugh. What would you need that much money for, kid?"

"Repairs for the bar!" Kazuki stated.

"Repairs... for the bar?" Danny said. He then started laughing uncontrollably, "why would you care?"

"Because we caused a mess in here. It's our responsibility to clean up this mess!"

"Does your partner agree with your thinking?"

Bartho was silent.

"I think your partner is longing for some intel from us," Zehim said, "What do you say, kid. You give us the five million bounty and you get to know whether we still have Mina or not! Good proposal, isn't it?"

Kazuki turned to Bartho.

"Hey, you're not thinking of giving that guy the bounty, are you?" Kazuki said, with a little anger mixed in the tone of his words.

"Shut up!" Bartho said to Kazuki, "I'm thinking!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**One Piece does not belong to me... all the characters are mine... aside from Kazuki, which is a character made by Shadow40000. Don't steal, please! **

**Like always, a review is appreciated. But the most important thing is that you enjoyed it... I hope you did...**

**That said, both adventures, on Iuda Island, where Kazuki and Bartho are, and on Vihan Island, where the rest is, have only barely started. What will Bartho decide, where is Mina really, will Kazuki be able to join the crew? And who is the mysterious figure from last chapter? All will be revealed soon... or much later. I've got so much planned for the next twenty chapters! **


End file.
